


Ann-Sophie Flowers: I never meant to be a problem child

by RhiD29



Series: Demigod athlete [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Canada Soccer, F/F, foster kid, problem child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-07-12 00:30:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15983747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhiD29/pseuds/RhiD29
Summary: Ann-Sophie brings trouble. She always has since her dad passed away when she was a child. She went from foster homes to foster homes, never feeling like she belonged, and running away is something she’s good at. She’s also good at soccer. She for some reasons gets noticed by Soccer Canada at age of 14. And then, she learns something that will change her life: her mother is Demeter, the Greek goddess. She goes in a camp for demigods in Long Island, where she’ll learn how to fight, and how to manage her emotions. Her dream to represent Canada at the U17 level is what she focusses on, but her attitude and life events get thrown at her. After all, isn’t is all she can bring, trouble? Will she finally belong somewhere without screwing everything? And play for Canada like she hopes to?





	1. I am a trouble kid in every aspect of my life... or not?

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually the first story I thought about for my Demigod Athlete series. I am not very far in writing it, thought, i'm always on like, three things at the time, make it four soon. I am starting publishing it now because i have a part four i am starting, but happening after part 1 to 3.  
> Ann-Sophie is my original character, as well as most of the demigods mentionned in this. Ann-Sophie is two years younger than Jessie and Alina, but the story happens the same year, which is 2014.

Ann-Sophie’s life had started nicely for her. She grew up with a single dad on a farm near Quebec City. He was doing his best to raise his daughter all by himself while working on the fields. Ann-Sophie recalled when she was running from her father, who was trying to keep an eye on her while talking to an employee. Or when her dad was driving tractors and would have her on his knees.

She never knew her mother. Ann-Sophie risked asking questions about her a few times, but he didn’t talk much, so she never pushed him. Her dad just didn’t know much about her. He had met her and started dating, but it didn’t last more than some weeks. It was just enough time for her to get pregnant. She didn’t want the baby, so once Ann-Sophie was born, she knocked at the door of the little farm house.

Ann-Sophie’s dad was at first afraid of having a baby on his own, but he took the challenge and Ann-Sophie was appreciative of the time she spent with him. Because she missed him now. More than anything. She was also happy she was not with him that day. That day everything changed. That day when he left for a delivery to the local market, and never came back. An old dying tree fell on the road. She was eight. She still remembers going to the funerals thinking it was impossible, it was not her papa.

She lived with her grandparents for two years. Thinking about it, she wasn’t easy on them. She never liked school, she had to admit that, but she was even worse after her dad died. She had dyslexia and couldn’t understand well what the teacher was asking her. To had more, she was hyperactive. She couldn’t stay sit very long. Physical education was from far her favorite class. Math was not that bad, except problem resolutions. Her solving was good, when she got the problem and understood all the information given. French was one of her worst class, and then she had to learn English! When English was going to be used in the middle of a French province that was Quebec? She was not living near Montreal, no one spoke English!

There were two places where Ann-Sophie felt great. The farm and a soccer field. When something was wrong, she’d run to her old house, lie in the middle of the potatoes, and cry. Or take a ball and shoot it as strong as she could. She was good at sport, she liked playing hockey during winter at the closest rink, but her favorite one was soccer. And she was good. If her father was still alive, she would probably be elite, but she couldn’t now that she was not staying long in families. Or they didn’t have the money for it.

After two years with her grandparents, they couldn’t take care of her anymore. They were getting too old. The year later, they were living in a center. But her father was an only child, and Ann-Sophie had nowhere to go. She ended up in the foster system. She had had good families, but the blond girl was trouble. She would run away, she would scream at her parents, she would have bad behaviour in class. She was also violent with other kids at school. She never stayed somewhere long, and it probably never helped.

Her high school started though. She had failed some years at school, but she’d be sent to the next level anyway because at primary school, you cannot fail twice. So, when she entered in high school, there was a ton of things she didn’t understand.

She changed high school twice. The first place, she liked it. But not the family she was living in, it was too strict, and she hated them. She ended up with another family, a sixth one. They were nicer, but they lived in Quebec City. In an apartment. In the middle of the town. She missed being near the farms. She felt like she needed space. She would make her family feel like she didn’t belong in a city, hoping she’s move out. At school, it was ok. She had some friends of her age, who were also hyperactive and had dyslexia.

Émilie was in secondary 1 like Ann-Sophie and loved swimming, and the other one, Mélodie, was at the level she was supposed to be, secondary 3 and loved singing, music and biology. She was also playing a bit of basketball. They were all in sports and were not good at school, so they ended up together. Mélodie always got the exact grades to pass, but she still helped her friends when she could. Ann-Sophie knew that she could have help for sciences. Ann-Sophie’s thing was geography and Émilie, history. She was really interested in Greek and Roman mythology.

Mélodie and Émilie’s parents were very nice. Both didn’t know their father, which Ann-Sophie found strange at first. Émilie was very close to her step-father, though, and she called him dad. Maybe that’s another reason they got along well together.

Émilie was coming from a swimming competition where she represented Quebec province.

              “There’s a girl from Toronto, she’s something. I wouldn’t be surprised she ends up at the Olympics.”

Émilie had gotten the silver, behind that Oleksiak girl. Émilie couldn’t stop talking about her. Enough that Ann-Sophie forgot to tell them the call she had had: Soccer Canada U17 head coach had called her. It was impressive, she was only 14. She had represented Quebec once, she had calls up for camps, but her foster family was not so happy for her to go to camps. They didn’t want her to play elite teams. It took them three days before they told Ann-Sophie about the call that week, and they told her she had to call to tell them she had exams to do. They decided she couldn’t go, without even asking her opinion.

She tried thinking about a convincing thing that could make her parents changing their mind. During a math class, she asked Émilie for a piece of advice. The swimmer was so happy about the call but pissed about the parents that the teacher totally noticed the girls were not paying attention to him at all. Émilie just smiled at him and looked interested during some minutes. Then, she looked back at Ann-Sophie.

              “They want you to tell you have exams? It’s national camp, it won’t work. The coach will tell you the school can report yours or make you have it before leaving. Plus, you don’t even have exams that week. You cannot not go to it, what if they never call back and forget that amazing talent you are?”

Émilie gave her some convincing things, and Ann-Sophie went home trying to improve her speech. Her foster parents were both home when she got there.

              “About the soccer camp, my friend Émilie told me the exam excuse cannot be used. And anyway, I don’t want to lie to the coach. If they find out, I’ll never have the chance again. And what if I say no now, and I never have a call after? Someone sees I’m good enough to represent my country and I can’t go because of what? Because you don’t want? That’s not fair!”

              “You are not doing well enough at school to make us send you!” her _dad_ said.

              “What do you mean? I’m trying to listen more than ever this year. It’s not my fault if I had to pass to the next level some years ago when I was clearly failing! Sometimes I wonder how it’s possible I’m in a regular group! Finally this year, I have the impression of understanding a little more than usual, and you thank me by this? And I haven’t cause much trouble lately… please, I’m not going to complain after…”

They did not look impressed more than that, but they told her they’d think about it.

              “Coach Priestman probably wants her answer soon, or she might have already called another girl, so please tell me tomorrow morning. And I swear I’m going to improve my behavior if you say yes. If it’s no, I might go back to my old habits,” Ann-Sophie said. She didn’t know if she was helping her case here, but it was worth trying something.

She was trying to focus on her homework when she heard her foster mom on the phone.

              “Will there be adults to look after them at the hotel and at the restaurant?... I just want to make sure she’s safe… Are some expanses covered, like hotel or planes or restaurants? We are not rich... We are only her foster parents, we don’t want to pay thousand of dollars for her… I never seen her play, I don’t care about soccer at all… she impressed some recruiters? I didn’t know she’s not stable with foster families due to behavior… Oh, she never listen to us, or listen in class, she is currently failing one or two classes because she claims being dyslexic, she is hyperactive and won’t sit when asked… How much school will she miss again?”

Ann-Sophie couldn’t hear anymore. She was asking every question to make Bev Priestman not wanting her! Like, seriously, why was she talking about school? Behavior, Ann-Sophie could see the point, even if it didn’t please her. But why was failing at school a problem? She did _not_ have exams that week! Ok, she was missing a week or so of school, but it wasn’t different from any other girl at the camp! She would open her books there… or maybe get help from an older girl, if she was not ashamed of being two years behind…

She went downstairs and asked to her mother to talk to coach Priestman. She was surprised her foster mom passed the phone. She immediately told the coach,

              “I don’t know what you’ve told my foster mother, but I heard what she said about me and I can explain…”

The coach let a laugh out of her mouth from the other side of the country. The teenager felt like she was mocking and started feeling angrier at her foster mom than she already was.

              “Can I ask you some questions, Ann-Sophie? And answer yes or no. Is there one of your parents you never met?”

              “My mom, and dad died when I was little and it’s hard without him,” Ann-Sophie said, wondering why Beverly Priestman was asking. She also tried going for pity, in case it could help her.

              “Do you have a feeling English, or should I say French, letters are dancing in front of you when trying to read, which is why you claim being dyslexic? Actually, have you been diagnosed?”

              “How do you know? And why do you ask?”

              “I’m a lot like you, Ann-Sophie. That’s all I can say. And you know, I’m never going to not take a girl for those reasons. And for the money problem, I can talk to your parents and make a deal with them. And I can get why you feel like you don’t belong in any family, your dad understood who you are, and they can’t. You don’t even know what I’m talking about and it’s worrying you don’t even know yet…I just want you to know, try avoiding as much technology as you can, it could be dangerous.”

What did she mean by who she was? By the way Priestman was talking, it was like she was not normal… Ann-Sophie was confused, but didn’t really cared about it. She could go to the camp, Priestman absolutely wanted her. Ann-Sophie felt like the coach wanted to tell her something too, but maybe she’d wait at the camp.

The blonde girl was excited when she told her best friends the next morning that she was flying to the United States just after the Christmas break. Émilie couldn’t hide her happiness, while Mélodie asked her what she was talking about. Ann-Sophie went in detail of every little bit of the conversations she had the night before. She explained why the camp was there: it would be too cold in Canada for a soccer camp.

              “Who knows, you might spend you summer between Quebec City and… they’re based in Vancouver, right? I’m just so happy for you!” Émilie said.

Mélodie had a big smile on her face, but it faded away as soon as Émilie talked about summer plans. Mélodie explained,

              “I won’t spend my summer here. Mom is sending me to a summer camp somewhere in Long Island. I can’t talk about it much, I don’t have any details about it but…”

Émilie quickly looked at the girl.

              “Is it about your dad you’ve never met? Because mom told me about a place in New York state and it could be it…”

From there, they started talking like Ann-Sophie wasn’t there. Their dad was suddenly important, them who never wanted to hear about their dad. Émilie considered her step dad like her father, but now she was caring about that man. And Mélodie was always talking about her father, named Apollo. The week passed, and Ann-Sophie felt excluded. She was not going to that camp, and even if she tried convincing her parents, they would never want her to go. And Mélodie and Émilie didn’t look like they wanted her there.

              “You need to be invited.”

Ann-Sophie took the sudden free time she had as her friends ignored her to practice soccer. She spent her nights on the field as soon as it was free. She was pissed at her friends. Why did a summer camp had to separate them? Why were they going to New York State? Why did they care about their dad suddenly? They were acting weird, and it was like Ann-Sophie didn’t matter now. Mélodie was trying to figure out the name of Em’s father, like she would guess it or his named mattered! Ann-Sophie didn’t understand anything of the conversations when the girls were sitting next to her. And mostly, when she asked question to maybe understand, they were ignoring her. And would go somewhere else and make her feel like she was not invited to the group bathroom break.

Ann-Sophie couldn’t wait to go to her soccer camp. It would make her feel better and push her limits. And she heard her friends talking about how they got why they had difficulties at school and all, but never dared saying why to her, maybe coach Priestman would tell her?

After days of waiting, she finally went to the United States for her soccer camp and it turned out well. She was roomed with the U17 captain, who had also playing with the U20 and tested with senior team, so she had experience and could talk about it to the rookie. She also explained her some things for her homework when needed, which pleased Ann-Sophie. The girl seemed very smart to the Quebecer. The fitness test also went not that bad, but it was not Ann-Sophie’s best thing. She had some disadvantage compared to the other girl: in Quebec province, you couldn’t enter a gym without a parent before you reach 16, so she never went to one ever. The soccer part, she felt like she impressed Bev, but she was scared she would not be chosen because she missed the last day and half. She got the flu. Maybe it was a luck she did, after all, because she knew she didn’t reach the demanded level at the beep test, and failing it would have not get her called back. But they didn’t know she would fail, she spent the last day in her room.

At some point, she was just hoping to be in the gym or on the field, or having a conversation with the coach about who she was supposed to be, why her mother was supposed to be important by giving her up to her dad. Or maybe she knew what camp her friends were going. She wished she had answer on why she had difficulties with letters. But she was stuck in that hotel room alone, and didn’t even see her roommate for the last day. She probably had changed room because she didn’t want to catch Ann-Sophie’s flu.

She barely saw the head coach. The assistant coach came to visit her and see how she was doing, but she didn’t see Coach Priestman.

              “She is at the hospital with Jessie Fleming. You were probably sleeping last night and did not heard it, but someone shot her last night in the hallway. Jessie will be alright. They removed the bullet during the night and she is recovering. The surgery went well.”

How did Ann-Sophie not heard that shot, or woke up from the sound? She had really passed out when it happened! Ann-Sophie felt bad for her captain. Poor Jessie. Ann-Sophie wished there was another reason why she had not seen her roommate. It explained why her coach did not get to see her. She was a bit disappointed. She wanted to ask her questions about her. Having answers to the things the coach mentioned her when she called to invite her. But she took the plane without having more than a minute alone with her.

When she came back, Émilie and Mélodie were still all secret about everything, but Ann-Sophie decided to stand up for herself. She thought that she was the same than them, but she didn’t have the parents to explain.

After a week of being alone, she decided it was the right time. So she went to the table they were eating at, and said,

              “Girl, I know you’re ignoring me for weeks, and I’m tired of this. Please, tell me what it is or at least talk about it somewhere else. I wish I could be trilled for you to go to that camp, but you don’t even tell me what it is! What happened with us being friends? Us sharing secrets?”

They looked at each other, and looked like they were reflecting on Ann-Sophie’s words. She hoped she had her point, but she felt unsure. What if they tell her to go away?

Émilie looked at Ann-Sophie.

              “I did not realise how much we got secret about it. Or how much we ignored you. I swear I, _we_ , didn’t mean to exclude you. But there are things we can’t talk about. The camp in itself must stay secret. We are not sure what we’ll do there anyway. We’ll try to avoid the conversation with you.”

Émilie was always the first one to talk in those situations. The girl who wanted peace in her group, the one to calm things out. But Mélodie nodded the whole time, and the foster teen knew her friend agreed. Ann-Sophie was happy she had her friends back, but she was curious about that place too. And she thought her friends were like her.

              “I know I shouldn’t ask question, but who told you about that place?”

              “Our moms. They knew there was that camp for us to go when we’d grow up, and they decided together that this year was the right year. We wish they had told us before, but nothing happened, it’s what’s important.”

Ann-Sophie thought they talk as secretly and confusing than when coach Priestman asked her questions and told her she was _not normal_. Were they the same than her? Priestman had talked about not knowing who she was, and Mélodie was going on the same kind of talk.

              “Girls, we started getting along because we were looking quite similar: sportive, dyslexic, hyperactive, we even had another point in common completely weird, not knowing one of our parent. It is possible I am the same as you? My dad died, he can’t tell me. And my foster parents don’t even bother helping me with homework, so I don’t think they know anything. My soccer coach told me I was different, but she didn’t get the chance to talk to me last week, my teammate got hurt and she went to the ER with her. So please, tell me.”

Ann-Sophie was about to cry there. Talking about her dad, and about the friendship she felt she was losing, was getting her emotional. But she couldn’t cry. Not in the cafeteria like that. Instead of stopping the tears, it got worse as all she tried keeping in for the last months just came up: her foster parents never being satisfied with her, her little fights with another foster kid at home, feeling like she belonged nowhere. She couldn’t lose her friends, they were all she had with soccer.

Émilie and Mélodie started crying too.

              “We had not realised you might be like us. I… we are sorry. We can’t tell you yet, we have to figure out if you really are, first. We should go to the bathroom. We can’t do that here.”

Émilie looked at her friend confused, but they all went to the bathroom, and entered in the biggest one. Mélodie pulled something out of her school bag that Ann-Sophie couldn’t really say what it was. To her, it looked like a very large ruler, but something in her brain was telling her it was not. Émilie’s pale face did help her to figure out her brain was working right. But why was she not seeing what it was.

              “Mélo, why do you have that in your bag? What if someone sees it? You’d be in big trouble.”

              “If it goes right through her, she’s not like us. If it hurts her, she is. If she explodes in dust, she was never our friend.”

Mélodie had said the last thing with a little laugh, thinking it was not. Ann-Sophie wondered why she’d explode. She was worried. The thing Mélodie had in her arms could hurt her. Very painfully or just a little bit like a needle? She asked the question.

              “It would cut you a little. I’m not going to hurt you on purpose. I’ll try my best for it to look like a paper cut. Can I have your arm?”

Ann-Sophie didn’t like the word _try_. What if she cut her deep? And what was that? Clearly not a ruler, it would not cut her! No reassuring at all…

She still pulled up her sleeve and put her hand in Émilie’s who was in charge of holding her firmly. Ann-Sophie felt like running away, but she had to know.

She felt Mélodie cutting her, and she started bleeding. Mélodie immediately stopped.

              “One of us. That doesn’t mean it’s good news for you, Ann, but we’ll talk about our camp to you. It could be important you go if you want to survive. That’s why I have this dagger in my bag. I don’t really know how to use it, but if we’re attacked, at least I’ll have _something_.”

A dagger? That was it? She started to see the ruler changing into a bronze knife. But she had no time to look at it. She was still bleeding a little, and she just heard the bell. Lunch time was over, they had to go in class.

              “Mélo, do you have any bandage to cover this and prevent the bleeding?”

Instead of taking something out of the bag again, she started humming. The cut disappeared slowly. Émilie and Ann-Sophie looked at her confused.

              “Em, my dad is Apollo, do you really think I can’t do this? Don’t ask why I love and I’m good at biology. Or why I want to become either a doctor or a veterinarian!”

Ann-Sophie was not less confused, but she’s got told they’d explain after school, at Émilie’s. Ok, that was enough to calm the foster kid.

Émilie and Ann-Sophie went their way, as Mélodie had not the same classes. They had a substitute teacher.

              “I don’t know why but I’m nervous right now. I have a bad impression. Should we skip the class? I don’t feel that good,” Émilie said, when she saw the teacher.

Ann-Sophie did not have the time to reply. The teacher cut her off.

              “The red hair at the back of the class, would you come in front, and leave blondie at the back? I don’t like talkers.”

It was starting well… Ann-Sophie made a sign to Émilie to go, and she tried listening to the substitute. He was boring.

Émilie waited for her friend at the end of the class. Everyone rushed out except her and another girl at the back, but Ann-Sophie felt slow to take her things, like if something was keeping her from moving. She was scared Em was right. The red hair girl gave her worried looks, then kept looking really fast at the teacher. Ann-Sophie, the teacher, Ann-Sophie, the teacher, made her eyes. Something was up with the him.

              “Girls, I need to talk to you. I will not tolerate that again. You do not talk without permission in my class.”

              “Oh, come on, we stopped after a minute, you separated us, we didn’t disturb after that!” Ann-Sophie defended herself. If her arms were numb, but her head was fully working.

The other girl at the back said she did nothing, but she didn’t move. Ann-Sophie found it odd, and started being scared. Especially that Émilie was making no from her head, and mouthed, “don’t provoke him”. Ann-Sophie understood too late, as she saw the teacher becoming a hideous monster. She couldn’t describe it. She was frozen. She felt she couldn’t move. The other girl in the classroom seemed to be in the same state. Her heart was pounding, and she wondered how the hell her teacher turned into a monster. What world was she living? She felt like she was not dreaming. She had to be. She was going to wake up in her bed.

Émilie started to search in her bag. She was behind the teacher, maybe she could attack it, and this was probably the reason she was not frozen yet, he was not looking at her. She heard her friend swearing. Ann-Sophie was hoping that earlier, in the hurry to get in time in class, they had put the dagger in Émilie’s bag. But no, it was put back in Mélodie’s bag. They had nothing. They were about to die there. With nothing to defend themselves. Numb.

The monster charged, and Ann-Sophie couldn’t think about anything else than _I’m dying_. But then, she heard Mélodie’s voice. She was going to save them? But why did she catch his attention?

He stopped and turned. He was about to charge, but Mélodie escaped his look. She ran on the tables to approach him. She was jumping from a table to another with ease, changing direction to escape his look, thanks to basketball movements. Once she was close enough she decided to shoot her knife at him. Ann-Sophie wasn’t sure it was her best option, but the monster didn’t look like having a shell. The blond’s biggest fear was that it would not kill him, and the knife would bounce out of reach, or to the monster’s use. Bad decision, Mélo, bad decision.

For some reasons, it worked. It went to dust in an explosion. That was what their friends referred earlier saying if she did, she was not their friends. She was not a monster, but that thing…

Ann-Sophie felt she was able to move again, but she felt she had no energy left. She could walk, but she still felt a bit numb. The girl next to her was as shocked as her.

              “Putain, what the hell was that?”

Ann-Sophie couldn’t answer. Mélodie and Émilie looked at each other. They knew one thing, the French girl was one of theirs too.

              “You need to come with us, we’ll explain. But somewhere else.”

Émilie was right. They couldn’t stay there. Ann-Sophie’s heart was pounding like never before. She would rather go back at her soccer camp and fail the beep test. They went out of class, expecting to see students or teacher being curious, but the hallways were empty. Ann-Sophie looked at the clock. Classes were started.

They decided to skip the last class. Émilie and Mélodie had to explain. The French girl followed. She swore the whole way to Émilie’s home. Ann-Sophie was used to the Quebecer swearing, but the girl had an accent from France. And completely different swearing. She just wanted to let some go, but she knew Émilie’s mom was not going to like. They were already at her house. Émilie’s mother was not working that afternoon, and looked at the clock as she saw them at the door.

              “Girls, why are you not in class? What happened? Mélodie, should I call Sylvie? Ann‑Sophie, I’ll call you foster parents before the school does. What do I tell them? And the other is?”

              “I was not feeling well and your house was closer,” Ann-Sophie said. Nathalie was used to calling them to tell where the teen was. And she knew something was up, she would not lie to them otherwise.

Technically that was not really the case, but Ann-Sophie was sure her foster mom never noticed the distance between houses and school. Mélodie decided her mother was less important for the first call. Ann-Sophie realised they had not asked the French her name until Nathalie brought it up.

              “Morgane Cartier. I’ve been living in Quebec City with my little sister and dad in the past six months. Before, I was living in Lyon, France. What the hell happened? Why did a monster attacked?”

Natalie paled. She was on the phone with Ann-Sophie’s foster dad now, but she had heard Morgane. Or Ann-Sophie’s dad was mad at his daughter. It was probably both. Her “dad” always thought she was faking. It was true she was often sick, but it was not her fault she had a very bad immune system!

They all waited their turn to call the parents, none of them had a cellphone, and then they all sat at the table with Nathalie.

              “Morgane, Ann-Sophie, I’m scared you are both demigods. Your father or your mother is either a Greek or a Roman god. There are camps for people like you to go, to learn how to train. You might have heard about it Ann, since Mélodie and Émilie are going to the Greek one next summer.”

              “I’m a demigod? That’s why coach Priestman told me I was not normal kid. Are they all dyslexic and hyperactive? Because she asked me those questions! And except monster fights, are there more things dangerous?”

Her friends nodded at her first questions, but for the dangerous parts, they didn’t know much. And Nathalie couldn’t help them on this one. They all tried answering Morgane and Ann-Sophie’s question. Nathalie then said she’d contact the Greek camp director to tell him about them. They had no clue if they were romans or greeks, and it would change which side of the country they’d go to.

              “I prefer you to finish your school year. I told Émilie to go to the camp for the summer, and if she wants to stay, then she’ll stay for the rest of the year. I think Sylvie thought the same thing for Mélodie. Ann-Sophie, I don’t know what we’ll tell your foster parents, but maybe I could ask Chiron to send someone to pretend they are social workers, and who’ll take you from there. Because I don’t think they could understand what being a demigod means. Not with the way they treat you.”

              “My little sister is also a lot like me, could she be a demigod?” Morgane asked.

Ann-Sophie thought of her foster sister. She was also having difficulties to read, but she was not diagnosed with hyperactivity or dyslexia yet. Her teacher thought she was, but her foster parents never saw anyone to confirm. Marie-Philip was eight years old, how many more years they’d wait for her to have the help she had the right to have? And was she also a demigod?

Nathalie called Sylvie, Mélodie’s mom. She was working at Marie-Philip school as a psychologist. She was going to observe Marie-Philip and Anaïs. Ann-Sophie learned Ms. Nadeau had always her eyes open for demigods. Apparently, she just had a meeting with a student that could be one. “What’s with Quebec City, gods?” Ann-Sophie thought. She learned the Gods were installed in New York City, so why coming up in Canada to have kids? Or even further: France! They liked French language?

They talked a lot that day, and Nathalie invited the girls to stay for diner. Morgane went to the school to pick her little sister, and the latest came with Marie-Philip and another girl, also accompanied by Sylvie. Mélodie looked at her mom with a curious look. Ann-Sophie did not expect that. She knew Marie-Philip had a friend called Anaïs, but what a coincidence it was Morgane’s sister! And why Ms. Nadeau was with them?

The French girl insisted on helping cooking, probably because she felt like a stranger there. She loved cooking, clearly. Sylvie learned the group there was a monster attack at her school too. Great. Ann-Sophie felt like they were in danger. They were only at the end of January, with that many demigods, they were surely going to attract more monsters! Why waiting for June?


	2. It's like a summer camp, but all year long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this, Ann-Sophie and Alina meet a certain way, and I know it's not exactly how it happens (or will happen, did i post it?) in Alina's story. As i said opening this story, I write 3 at the same time, so sometimes i confuse myself a little... or forget i wrote some things. Sorry about that.

They didn’t travel yet to the camp. At first, they were supposed to leave for the spring break, or Easter if Ann-Sophie didn’t have her passport on time, but then, her friends’ parents changed their mind. For some reasons, Sylvie and Nathalie thought ending the school year and doing exams were worth the risks. Ann-Sophie couldn’t do anything about it, even if she didn’t feel that safe. They were the ones who were supposed to drive her to the camp. She wondered how the women were supposed to convince her foster parents to let her and Marie-Philip go in USA. She even had filled the forms to have a new passport without her foster parent’s approval. Ann-Sophie was very good at replicating signatures. She had done it when she was recruited by Soccer Canada. Doing it again was a piece of cake. She received her passport in the end of March.

By the time the exams came, nothing had happened. Ann-Sophie was relieved. She really wished she could skip exam week though. Not that she wanted a monster attack, but couldn’t just Sylvie decide to drive the kids to the camp already?

At home, things were not going for the best. She still didn’t get along with her foster parents. They were calling her stupid and all. Ann-Sophie wished she could just tell them. But they just called her a problem child. They didn’t even try helping her. And she didn’t take authority well. She was the kind of girl you just didn’t tell what to do. Go to bed early? Yeah, I’ll play video games until three AM. Do your homework? Nah, I’m not entering home, try catching me while I go to the park play with a soccer ball. They threaten her to not let her go to her games, but she always managed going there anyway. Running away was her second nature lately.

When Ann-Sophie came home from school on her last day, after a though final science exam, she saw a car she didn’t know who it belonged to in the parking lot. She was already stressed because she thought she’d fail the year again, and now strangers were home. She had a bad feeling. And since she was the last girl to finish her tests, Émilie and Mélodie had not waited for her. They were already packing.

The door opened before she could touch the handle. Even weirder. A woman was standing there, at the door, and looked to be there for a while.

              “Hi Ann-Sophie. How are you? How did your final exams go?”

Ann-Sophie had never seen that woman before, how did she know her name, and that she had exams?

She answered something polite, even if she wanted to say shits. Ann-Sophie then went in her room. If the woman was there for her, she had to say it clearly. She didn’t say anything suggesting it, so Ann-Sophie went in her room thinking about packing discreetly. She had not yet told her _parents_ about her summer plan. She was too scared they’d say no, even if it was technically free. She planned on packing only a school bag, plus Marie-Philip’s, and waking the kid up very early the next morning. Who cared if the cops would search for the girls some days later? Ann-Sophie knew she’d stay the year at the camp, no way she went in another foster family. And since she was running away, if she came back, it was directly to juvenile prison. She had been warned the last time she did.

When Ann-Sophie met Marie-Philip the first time, the teen hated the child. But now she knew they were both demigods, Ann-Sophie had tried considering her foster sister. She fought a little less with her. And if someone messed up with her, she was the first defending her. Like if she was a real sister.

She had barely taken out her books from her school bag that the visitor knocked at the door.

              “I think we were not properly introduced. I am both your and Marie-Philip’s social worker. And I’m taking you from this place.”

Ann-Sophie suddenly got scared. Her plan was not going to work if she moved in any other family. They wouldn’t let her go with strangers to them. She wanted to cry.

The woman looked surprised.

              “I was being told you had trouble with this family, and that you didn’t fit with them. They didn’t treat you like a daughter. Was I told wrong?”

              “No! I’m just surprised and happy, I guess,” the teen lied.

              “Some people complained about the treatment you and this girl had: your friends’ parents, Marie’s teacher… so you’re going to a place I know you’ll feel home. They’ve had some girls like you and Marie-Philip Nadeau. And you’ll still be very close to your friends. One or two houses of distance, to be exact.”

Ann-Sophie didn’t get it. Mélodie and Émilie were living two kilometers of distance of each other. How could she be some houses next to both of them? And how lucky she was, that her new foster family lived just next to her friends she now wouldn’t even be able to see for the whole summer… If she wasn’t killed by a monster before they came back!

She saw all of her belongings suddenly being packed in suitcases. How the… Ann-Sophie realised. The woman had told that Sylvie and Nathalie had complained. Her best friends’ moms wouldn’t have done that, they knew the plan.

              “I actually know both your mother and Marie-Philip’s,” the woman said when she was sure the foster parents couldn’t hear.

Ann-Sophie looked at the woman with hopes. Who was her mother? Which goddess? But she got no reply.

              “You mother will claim you when the time is right. Now, follow me in my car, I’ll drop you to Émilie’s house. You’re all leaving tonight. Chiron waits for you at camp for June 23rd.”

So they did. Both Sylvie and Nathalie’s car were parked in front of the house. Mélodie’s mom was taking her daughter, plus Anaïs and Morgane, and Marie-Philip new friend Marie-Soleil. The latest was an Apollo daughter, like Mélodie.

The road was long like hell. At least, Ann-Sophie didn’t get too much car sick. She was very happy they were not taking a plane. She had fly only twice and had felt nauseous both times. Ok, the second time, she was recovering from a flu, but still. She was clearly sick in the air.

At some point, Émilie’s mother stopped her car on the road.

              “Don’t tell me we ran out of gas?”

              “No. The camp is in the forest right there. You are at your home, girls,” the woman announced. How did she know, Ann-Sophie had no idea.

Ann-Sophie didn’t know what to expect entering this camp. What if she hates it? Or that she doesn’t understand English enough to follow the rules? What if she forgets how to speak English in a dangerous situation? No, Ann-Sophie couldn’t think about that. And Émilie and Mélodie were there with her, plus that French girl Morgane, who was worse than anyone else in English. Ok, Marie-Philip, Anaïs and Marie-Soleil were not counting, they barely knew how to count from 1 to 10!

Ann-Sophie looked behind. Nathalie and Sylvie were talking to each other. They seemed to be waiting to see if the girls were properly in the camp before leaving. Ann-Sophie heard they had planned a shopping trip in New York City and visiting Boston before heading back to Quebec Province.

They found the main entrance, where a teen of their age and a young woman were standing.

              “New campers! Does any of you know who your godly parent is, or got recognised by him?”

Émilie and Mélodie immediately replied. Ann-Sophie couldn’t, her dad was dead, he couldn’t tell her. Mélodie thought it could be Demeter, but she only knew the twelve Olympians. Her mom could be a minor god.

              “I’m Clarisse. I’ll show you around and where are the cabins. The claimed people will be able to install their room while the rest watch some videos and do some little test until it’s totally clear who your parent is or that you get claimed.”

They followed Clarisse. They walked a few minutes in the forest before waking through hills. Stopped on the top of one, where they could see the entire camp. Ann-Sophie thought the camp seemed nice. The camp looked like surrounded by little hills and forests, except on one side: there was sand dunes and then, the sea. The camp was big, Ann-Sophie could barely see everything. She noticed there was a field near the dunes. Whatever was growing there was higher than carrot or potato plants, but lower than corn plants. Ann-Sophie immediately felt home, just looking at the field. Then, the smell of salt coming from the sea hit her, and Émilie let a similar comment to what Ann-Sophie thought.

They went down to continue their way. The kids were already running. A camper further stopped them, but then looked clueless. He didn’t know French, and couldn’t talk to them. Ann-Sophie could see Marie-Soleil pointing herself, and then her friends. Presentations?

              “This is Malcolm. Athena’s son,” Clarisse announced as they reached him.

The boy looked to be between 17 and 22 years old. Ann-Sophie was not good at guessing ages. He had blond curly hair. He looked nice.

They made visit. At everything, Ann-Sophie felt like she’d like the camp even more. She always liked being outdoor, so she was trilled to discover they always ate outside. Unless someone was sick. Breakfast were also taken in the cabin’s kitchen since a year.

              “Cabin were rebuilt. Annabeth and I designed them, and Hephaestus’ kids build them, over the last year. We made enough room for the number of children the gods usually have at camp. Full bathrooms and kitchen and living room. Some of them even have a laundry room. Before, we’d do it at the Big House,” Malcolm said.

Ann-Sophie didn’t question who Annabeth was. He talked like she was a known camper, she could be his counsellor. Ann-Sophie looked at the different cabins from far. Half of them were bigger than her home back when she was a kid. She could have the smaller room of all in her cabin and still be happy about it. She had been living in apartments for the past five years. And she loved having her own space. To move. To play ball outside. The volleyball, basketball and soccer court looked very attractive. Clarisse went back to her watching task after a few minutes.

They looked at the different cabins, and Ann-Sophie felt attracted by Demeter’s. It looked like a farm house. There was even a barn next to it, in construction. She was wondering what it was used for.

              “Last month, Chiron told us to build a barn, a little place like an apartment, or a studio. We don’t really know who will use it, Chiron didn’t even tell us. I assume it’s either for the counsellor Miranda, or Katie, who is the counsellor during summer. She goes in college in New Rome during the year. But why not living with her siblings, I have no idea. It’s a bit odd.”

They entered in the green house that served to Demeter’s children. Ann-Sophie got hit by the smell of the house, and recognized it in a second. Tears filled her eyes. It smelled home. She might have been very young the last time she had been in that kind of place, but she could recall it. The house looked nothing like her family home, though, and it helped.

              “You are ok, Ann-So?” Émilie said, worried.

              “Uh-Uh. It’s just… I feel home here. And this house, the smell, the field not so far… it makes me think of when I was a kid. Before everything screwed up. When dad was there. When I ran away from him in the fields, instead of running away from families and messes I made. What’s growing here, exactly?”

              “Strawberries. You grew up on a field?” Malcolm said.

The girl nodded. Strawberries. She thought she might go steal one or two, she suddenly craved them! She hoped they were as good as those back home. _Les fraises du Québec_ had always been her favorite. Sweet, tasty, very red. She remembered when she was a kid, her dad would take her on l’ _Île d’Orleans_ , and they’d pick some buckets together. She’d end up eating most of them anyway, but it was great time with her papa. And in September, they’d go back on the island, this time to pick apples. She had done that for a few years.

Ann-Sophie was now shaking. She had difficulty dealing with all those memories coming back. She hoped the feelings would go away after a few hours. That that Green house would stop making her think of her dad. She loved him, but thinking about him hurt like crazy.

Everyone was looking at her now, and she just wanted to hide. Yes, she was crying, and what? It was not the first time they saw someone do, right?

              “You are claimed,” Mélodie said. “Correct me if I’m wrong Malcolm, but this symbol is Demeter, right?”

Ann-Sophie realised there was a symbol floating above her head. It was disappearing, so she didn’t see well what is was. She was not surprised it’d be Demeter. She felt greater in this home than any other, and her dad was a farmer, it made sense.

Malcolm saw a brown hair girl entering in the place, and called her. The girl made a ‘wait’ sign, and rushed to a room Ann-Sophie assumed it was a bathroom. Ann-Sophie decided to go out instead of waiting for her sister. It was weird thinking she probably had dozen of siblings, she had always been an only child.

She went by the barn. The structure was done. She looked inside by the window space. A second floor was built in the roof, covering half the space there.

              “The bed is upstairs. The little room there is the bathroom, and this one will be, I guess, a little office, but we were not really told,” Malcolm said.

Ann-Sophie looked away. Building was not her thing, and hearing knocks on the wood was enough after some minutes. She hoped they’d finish building it soon.

She heard branches cracking behind her and turned around. Her _sister_ was there.

              “Your mother just claimed her. Can you make her visit, and let her choose a room?” Malcolm said.

The girl nodded.

Ann-Sophie realised they were not introduced yet. She went quite fast. Her name, and mentioned her first language was French. She knew her accent would betray her anyway. Or that she’d have a language failure quite soon.

              “Nice to meet you, I’m Katie Gardner. I’m the counsellor during summers, Miranda is the rest of the time. I’m sorry I ran away five minutes ago, I really needed to use the bathroom. There are currently some rooms left. One next to the bathroom I just used, the other are upstairs.

Ann-Sophie asked if she could freely look at the house. So she did, like a kiddo. Running to discover all rooms. She felt like she was eight, but she didn’t care. She was having fun, and she needed it. She needed something positive about that house, so she looked at the room where she felt more home.

It ended up being the last room she visited: the one on the first floor. It was not that big, but it had a double bed, and Ann-Sophie was someone who moved a lot when she sleeps. On a simple bed, she usually got bruises from hitting the walls, and woke up at least twice a week on the floor!

She felt the door behind her shut, and Ann-Sophie turned in surprise. It was not her room door. The bathroom Ann-Sophie was about to check, and use. Great. And obviously, just because the bathroom was used, she suddenly really needed to pee.

              “There’s one other bathroom in the house, you fool,” Ann-Sophie thought, suddenly.

She left the room, and went to the bathroom. When she passed by the door to reach the stairs, she heard Mélodie, “So she is not decided yet. Seriously Ann, you can choose later too, I want to see Apollo’s cabin and choose a room too!”

              “I’m just going to pee, because go figure who just took the one next to my room!”

              “It was Katie. So you chose the one there?” Émilie said.

Ann-Sophie screamed her answer, running the stairs up. She didn’t want to pee her pants, and she felt like if she took her time, it would happen.

She joined her sister downstairs. Her friends had left.

              “Is it ok if I take the room next to the bathroom you used twice in 15 minutes?”

Katie didn’t seem to think her remark was funny. It was not meant to be, anyway. It was a fact! They went out and Ann-Sophie realised her counsellor was pale a bit. Inside, she thought it was the light. Ann-Sophie crossed her finger the girl wasn’t contagious. She would have it in a matter of seconds!

              “Tell me you don’t have the flu or a bad cold?”

              “Nah. Don’t worry about it, I’m fine. It’s just something I ate. I’ll be fine in a few minutes, I guess.”

Katie showed them around, and led them to sword practice. What, already? Ann-Sophie surprised herself being… ok. But it was her first day. She was an athletic girl, but she found herself exhausted. At least, she was used to sudden changes of direction. She played hockey and soccer! Mélodie looked ok with it too. But Émilie… she complained about her legs way before her arms! What? For gods’ sake, with how heavy those swords were? Ann-Sophie had to try at least ten before finding one she felt ok with. Jake, who helped the new kids choosing their weapon, looked discouraged with Mélodie. It took her forever. She was very picky and perfectionist. She _had_ to find the perfect weapon. Ann-Sophie’s arms felt like fire before she even chose!

Ann-Sophie looked at another girl. She was not better than any of them, but she had come with her own sword. But their trainer, Percy, didn’t know her more than the new girls. Was she a rookie?

When they finally got two minutes to rest, Ann-Sophie decided to go talk to the possible new girl. After all, she was not a shy teen, there was nothing keeping her from talking. And if there was a place she wouldn’t get the problem child tag, it was here. Weren’t they supposed to all be?

The girl looked shy. When Ann-Sophie approached her, she timidly smiled at her. And by the girl’s non-confidence when she asked, “What’s your name?”, English was not a first language. Great. Ann-Sophie presented herself.

              “What’s yours? Do you speak French?”

The girl made a better smile this time. She was still hesitant when she switched in French to say,

              “Je m’appelle Alina. Je parle un peu plus français que anglais. Allemand?” (1) She then joked.

The girl explained she was from Switzerland. Ann-Sophie thought they spoke French there, but guess she was wrong! It wouldn’t be the first time. They talked about sports on their way to the pavilion. Alina didn’t know anything about soccer, but surprisingly, she had heard about women’s hockey! And Ann-Sophie thought she was the North American, and Alina the European!

They ended up talking about the women’s hockey gold medal Canada had played back in Sochi in February. The way it had happened had made Ann-Sophie’s classroom scream. Plus all others who were not exactly live.

              “Do you know what country won the bronze? I only watched Canada’s games,” Ann‑Sophie asked, which got a grin from the Suisse girl.

              “My country!”

The girl turned also red, and Ann-Sophie felt like there was more to say from her. But she looked shy, so Ann-Sophie didn’t push.

They got to the eating pavilion. Then, they were eating with their siblings. Every god had its table. Ann-Sophie joined Katie. Then something bugged her. Why did they have kitchen in the cabins if they ate at the pavilion? She asked to the girl next to her. Who answered in French. How many people were frenchies, for gods’ sake?

              “I’m from Quebec,” the girl explained, before telling her she was an aboriginal. She even asked Ann-Sophie to help her with translations. Daisy’s first language was called Innu. Great. She was horrible in English, and she was there since March. Ann-Sophie hoped she would be fluent at the end of the summer, but for her sister, it didn’t look encouraging.

She learned that the kitchens were used for breakfast, and Sundays. Sundays were the only day of the week you could do the activities you want. That included eating when you want. Cool!

              “You can eat whatever you want, just think about it,” Daisy said.

Ann-Sophie thought about that steak she dreamed of for the whole year, but her foster parents were vegetarian, she never had the change to bite in a piece of meat. The steak appeared in her plate, cook just like she wanted. Ann-Sophie noticed no one had touched their food yet, and everybody stood up.

              “We need to give offerings to the gods first. You actually have to give them the best parts,” Katie told her. Ann-Sophie risked looking at her friends. They were also questioning the rule. What if she gave the burned part? Would she go to the worst part of hell?

She did like everyone, after cutting some piece of meat and pushing a pile of mashed potato away. It was easier to do it while sitting. But everyone stared at her. They really thought she was going to take a bite, don’t they?

Monday evenings were said calm. It was grilling marshmallow while Apollo’s children entertained everyone around the fire. It looked like a choir. Ann-Sophie didn’t speak well enough English to understand all the lyrics, and wondered why people were laughing at some parts of a song. What was supposed to be funny? Why were everyone pointing at body parts? It looked like a nursery rhyme! But the youngest camper was like… 6 or 7, it was probably not meant to be for toddlers!

The first week was very demanding. Ann-Sophie felt her brain was always running. Between hearing English most of the times, to having to learn how to fight, what monster does what, and trying to memorise the very loaded camp schedule, Ann-Sophie was exhausted. And she felt weird being around children and teenagers all the time. She had never gone to a summer camp, and she thought it showed. She was not used to live with as much people.

About three days in, she couldn’t take it anymore. She just wanted to go hang out with her friends. And speak French! Not hearing anything in another language. But the schedule was made with godly parent, so she had Daisy… And Jude and Marguerite spoke a little French, one of their parents was francophone. But they were also nine years old. Nothing interesting there.

She found herself skipping an activity. She didn’t even look at what she was missing. Katie ended up in the cabin screaming her name. She did not get a reply. Ann-Sophie just wanted to hear the silence. Be able to hear the sound of people training with swords in the arena.

But of course, her counsellor knew exactly where to find her.

              “We have a main task to do here, and you’re trying to skip it? Man, we’re Demeter’s children, we have to take care of the strawberries.”

Ann-Sophie knew she was supposed to get up. But she didn’t. Her legs and arms were so sore she knew she would be everything but useful. And she wanted some alone time.

              “Sorry, you’ll have some tonight when it’ll be bed time. Task is task, and Chiron will not be happy if he knows you spent your afternoon here.”

              “Well don’t tell him!” Ann-Sophie said loud. She had had enough now. She just wanted peace. “Can’t we be left alone for an hour? I don’t want to be scheduled every minute!”

Katie wasn’t pleased with the comment, and Ann-Sophie knew she was testing the patience of her oldest sister.

She finally let her. _This time_. Because she was new, and everything was hard at first. Ann-Sophie decided to take a bath. Stayed there maybe a little too long.

              “Ann-Sophie Flowers! It’s been an hour, now, please come in the field.”

Already? Ann-Sophie looked at her fingers. She was definitely there since a while. Oops.

She stood up and put some clothes on she didn’t care about. They were absolutely going to get dirty anyway. When she left the bathroom, Katie was at the entrance. Still waiting for her.

              “You can go, you know. I know which direction to go, we see the field from here! I’m not stupid.”

              “You might try to skip again, and this time I’m not leaving without you. Miranda is already pissed.”

              “Do I look like I care if she’s mad at me?”

Katie’s face changed to the worst up to now. Normally, Ann-Sophie would have tested further, but she was there since a week, she didn’t want her sisters to hate her for the whole summer because they’ve had a bad impression at first. She followed Katie to the field. There were no machines here to help them, and it felt weird for the teen. She was not used to the old-style farming. Satyrs were playing the flute to chase the bugs and other things you didn’t want in your field. That was cool, at least she knew it couldn’t be more bio than that! No pesticides, no machines… and it didn’t mean you could have an insect in your strawberry!

She helped her siblings. About ten minutes in, she saw Jude chasing his twin in the field, and suddenly she had a flashback from years before.

_She was on Orleans Island, in front of Quebec City, with her dad. That was one of the best places to pick strawberries. It was a tradition. Her dad always insisted on buying two more buckets, because they would eat most of them instead of putting them in buckets._

_“Ann-Sophie ate too much of them, I can pay for another one in complete!”_

_“Not true, dad! You ate half of it too! Don’t put the blame on me!”_

_He ended up laughing. He never admitted. Ann-Sophie was mad at him for hours! She had eaten too much strawberries that day that she ended up throwing up in the car on their way home. And didn’t eat any strawberries for a month._

It was the last time they had gone in a strawberry field. That year, they didn’t even get to return on the island during September to pick apples. He was gone before that.

Tears filled her eyes. She missed him. The summer was going to be harder than planned. Being in a field, no matter what was growing, was directly related to the man of her life. It was too much for her.

              “Je t’aime, papa. Je m’ennuie.” (2)

She sat in the middle of the way, and put her head on her knees. No way they saw her like this. A satyr stopped.

              “Are you ok?”

              “Mind your own business!”

She knew it was not right, but she was a teenager doing teenager things. He wanted to be nice, and she was turning her back.

She cried like that for at least ten minutes. When she looked up, Katie was looking at her, arms crossed.

              “God, you _really_ didn’t want to come, you’re crying now! If Chiron had told me I was going to get a whining baby of fourteen years old, I would have stayed in New Rome!”

 _You can always return there if you want_ Ann-Sophie almost said. She held it just in time. It wouldn’t have been pretty if she had talked. Katie was probably about to explode now. Ann‑Sophie was really playing with her nerves.

After that little fight with Katie, the Quebecer stayed calm. She was less than surprised when she realised she had her period some hours later. Of course, it had not helped her mood! But she decided to be nice for the rest of the week. If she wanted to make friends here and have a good relationship with her siblings, she had to behave well.

The next Monday, Ann-Sophie decided to start her day with a morning jog, so she woke up very early and went out of her cabin. It was so early she was sure she was not supposed to be out, and an harpy could stop her, but she knew she would spend the day either sword training or studying Ancient Greek. She could have gone to the field to practice soccer, but Demeter’s cabin had a game against the Nike that night, and those kids were going to do anything to win. Losing was not an option for a Nike’s kids. Or at least, most of them.

She had found a farm near the camp and she wanted to run to it. Discovering the surroundings. It took her more than half an hour just to go. She walked in the property, just because she felt like it. She sometimes was a bit rebel like that. She wanted to remember those memories, the feeling she had when she was helping her father. Or just lay on the ground for five minutes. She missed her dad so much. She wished he was still there, seeing her growing up. That he was there when she realised she was a demigod. That he told her. Told her why she struggled at school and helped her going through it.

She was trying to hold her tears when she heard screams.

              “Get off my property! I can’t stand you here anymore, go away!”

Ann-Sophie looked the other way. The man was no talking to her. Phew!

He was talking to a dog. Even if she was far, she could see he was dirty. He had something in his mouth.

              “I said go away and stop digging my potatoes!”

The man was about to kick the dog with his feet when he saw Ann-Sophie.

              “Is it your dog? Cause he comes often lately and if I see him one more time, it will be his last time!”

              “It’s not my dog. I’m just doing my jog around. I was going to leave, I’ll take the dog with me to give it back to its owner.”

              “Good luck with that, he doesn’t have a collar! Seriously, if he comes back, I’ll kill him!”

Ann-Sophie called the dog. He followed her, potato still in his mouth. She wanted to leave and fast. A lot of Americans owned a gun, and Ann-Sophie was not supposed to be on this property. She was a bit scared but didn’t let it show and waited for the dog. When he got next to her, he gave the vegetable like if it was a ball. She didn’t take it, so the dog took it back and followed her. She walked to go home. She was scared she’d be too slow and would come when everyone would be awake, but she didn’t have much choice. The dog was cute and needed to have a home. He answered to her commands, so he had at least once had an owner. How dirty he was, he probably didn’t have anymore, or was lost for a while.

She was trying to figure out what breed he was when he stopped on the beach to dig a hole where he left the potato. She whistled him.

              “Come on, Monsieur Patate, follow me!”

He looked at her and obeyed. He didn’t seem to mind the name she gave him. Mr. Potato. Ok then! She thought of sending a picture of him, once bathed, to a local newspaper to see if someone claimed him, but at the same time, she wished no one would. He looked so friendly, even if he digs in the potato field. And she already had found him a name…

They made it to the camp, way later than Ann-Sophie’s initial plans. She knew it as soon as she saw Émilie in the pool. She was always in it at the same time than the morning wake up call. And she looked like she was there for a while. And Ann-Sophie could see movement in the cabins. Everyone was awake.

She entered in the cabin in front, that green farm house. As soon as she closed the door, she saw Katie. She looked pissed.

              “Can you tell me where the hell were you, Flower? And what’s that?”

She definitely was pissed. No one called her by her last name except her soccer teammates and coaches back in Canada. Ann-Sophie turned as red as Katie’s Barn next door. And pointed the dog. Really Katie, you never saw one in your life or what?

              “Went for a morning jog. I forgot to leave a note, do I? And I found him. A man was about to kill him, and he doesn’t have anything to tell me who he belongs to.”

Katie didn’t look amused.

              “Miranda had to go in my cabin because they couldn’t find you. And you know I’m not that much of a morning person. I’m going back to my place, Miranda, you can decide what we do with this dirty man, I don’t care.”

Ann-Sophie looked on the ground and went to the bathroom. She turned the water on to wash the dog, and herself, and saw Katie by the window, entering in her little barn. No one knew why exactly, but Katie had convinced Chiron to build a little barn for her to live in. No other counsellor had that, and Ann-Sophie never heard of anyone who had succeeded to have their little place to themselves or why she had. But Katie loved sometimes being aside the others when she came during the summer, and there was not so much place left in the house anyway. The twins could share a room if someone else was coming, but other than that, Ann-Sophie didn’t know how they could fit someone else without sharing rooms.

She softly washed the dog. Now that she thought of it, it was a Jack Russel Terrier. She paid attention of what she was doing, he could have injuries hidden by the dirt. Monsieur Patate wasn’t scared of the water, he even stayed in when she was done washing him. She turned the shower on to rinse off her own sweat from the run and the dog just looked amused by the water falling. Perfect, it wouldn’t be a battle every time she’d need to wash him, he liked it!

Once they were both clean, Ann-Sophie went outside to eat with everyone. There was already a line to give food to the gods. She sat next to Miranda and Katie, and told them she was sorry. She should have told them about her morning jogs. They would not let her pass the limits of the camps again, though, and Ann-Sophie was a bit sad about it. But the counsellors were clear: she couldn’t go outside the camp without Chiron’s permission, it was a rule for everyone. The director noticed the Jack Russel and asked where he came from. Miranda covered for her.

              “He entered the camp by himself. Ann-Sophie found him after going in the field for a morning walk to wake up.”

Ann-Sophie smiled at her sister. She never thought she would lie for her. Chiron let a, “hum hum I see… Flowers, I’ll have to talk to you.” Not convinced at all. Katie looked at her sister in disagreement.

The Quebecer knew she was in trouble. “Please don’t kick me out of here. I’ve been kicked out too many times in life… Why can’t I stay somewhere long enough to feel great? For once I feel like I belong…” Ann-Sophie thought, thinking about the worst that could happen.

She went to the Big House as soon as she finished her breakfast. She was very nervous about meeting Chiron.

              “Ann-Sophie, I know your sister lied to me. Where did you find the dog? Did he come by himself here or you left the camp?”

He wanted an answer and Ann-Sophie couldn’t lie. Or she could say she found him on the beach? No, why Miranda would have told him another thing then… She had to admit she crossed the boundaries. She was shaking, but she had to.

Chiron was waiting, but his faced changed.

              “Where did you go? You escaped to the harpies?”

She admitted where she went. She couldn’t answer the last question, she didn’t know herself. Maybe she went in the opposite direction?

              “I didn’t notice I was out of the camp that much, I was focused on my run, and then I noticed the farm and I had never seen it, so I knew I was a bit far… I should have stayed closer, but I can’t go run in the woods either, I’d be lost way too fast…”

The centaur took a deep breath. Explained why the rule was there.

              “I’ll have to punish you. You’ll have to clean the stables instead of playing tonight.”

She wished she could protest, but she was not at all in that position. He knew it was the most hated task by everyone. Just the best punishment ever. Especially that it was soccer tonight. And he knew that she was a soccer player! She was totally pissed, but she knew she deserved it. If a monster had attacked, no one knew where she was, and would have searched for her for a very long time.

She went back to her cabin. Émilie and Mélodie were there, playing with the dog. Ann-Sophie complained as they were going to the arena for fighting classes with Percy and Clarisse. It looked total fun!

Ann-Sophie tried not letting people know she was mad. She knew Chiron was right deep inside, but she was not ready to admit it, and still wished she could play. She wished they had more free time during the day, so she could clean the horse’s stables _before_ the game. She could at best watch her siblings play soccer. At least, Katie and Miranda were good at that sport. Not like Ann‑Sophie, but they were still doing okay at it. But no, she had to be in the stables at the same time as they were playing, and that, that was unfair.

She let her angriness lead her while she trained. After a few days at camp, she was starting to have a feeling of battling. The movement were more and more natural for her. She wanted to kick her opponent’s butt. But then, she was paired with Mélodie. She tried not hurting her feelings too much. But they were both competitive, and she was starting to be an ok fighter. But her friend was naturally better at archery than sword fighting. An Apollo thing.

She spent the day doing a few usual activities. After lunch, Katie came to her as she was just back to the shore with her kayak, after a half an hour on the lake, that left her feeling a little sick. She definitely hated every form of transportation.

              “Miranda and I did cabin inspection, and I’d like you to return to your room and clean it.”

              “Come on, my bed in made and I vacuumed yesterday! What’s wrong?”

              “You definitely hate cookies in the room or something, cause there’s crumbs on your desk. Plus, I could see piles of clothes and other things on the floor.”

Ann-Sophie looked at her. Really? That was not that bad! Why couldn’t they leave something there for one day? It always had to be perfect. Plus, she had to go clean the stables soon, and she wanted to get rid of the nausea first.

              “And what if I don’t go clean it?”

She just didn’t care about it. She was already pissed, and now Katie was asking that? She tried provoking her. She was searching for trouble, and she knew it, but she thought that cleaning every day was useless.

              “I didn’t write you fail the inspection yet, I wanted to give you a chance, but if you don’t, I’ll report it to Chiron. You are already lucky it’s Miranda and I’s turn today, and not any other counsellor, otherwise you were already reported.”

Ann-Sophie couldn’t care less. That was a bit ridiculous, and she just wanted people to let her alone. She ended up screaming at her sister. She felt like she was something that you added fuel to it, and she was just waiting on the smallest flame to burst into a big fire. Katie was not in the mood, and they also started to raise her voice. They ended up fighting, and Katie just screamed at her to go clean immediately. Ann-Sophie shrugged, but never actually went to the cabin with the purpose of finishing her cleaning. She went in her room, yes, but instead of taking care of what Katie wanted, she downed medicine. She was used to farm animal smell, but the kayak race had left her in a bad position to clean poop. If she didn’t get rid of the nausea, she’d end up throwing up for sure. A look in the mirror confirmed that she was already a little pale.

She looked at her room. Pile of clothes? Oh, come on, it was just some sport clothes she had just thrown after her morning jog. It was not that bad! If the camp let her a basket to put her dirty clothes in her room instead of the floor above, she’d use it!

She left to do her chore in the stables. It was painful to do. She heard people screaming to encourage their favorite team for the soccer match. She was jealous. She should have been on the field, with the ball at her foot. She thought she could have shown them a few things. She might not be the best fighter yet, and probably will never be, but she might be the best in soccer here. She wanted to know that, but she guessed it would be for another week.

She was pissed. Pissed at Chiron, pissed at Katie. Pissed at herself, too. Why did she have to clean the stables? Monsieur Patate found her in a pegasi stables, where she was swearing. She hesitated on taking a break to pet the dog, or hurry to finish to catch the end of the soccer game. She decided to finish fast.

She ran to the field as soon as she was done, her energetic dog following her the whole way. The game was ending when she got there. But Demeter’s children were winning. Yes!!

Chiron saw her coming.

              “Katie told me your cleaning was not totally done. Am I right?”

              “I forgot to pick up my clothes after I changed. I’ll take care of that for tomorrow, is it ok?”

              “Why not when she told you?”

              “I wasn’t feeling right, and I wanted to get rid of what you asked me to do this morning.”

Chiron didn’t look impress.

              “Can you follow the rules and go clean your room like asked? Please. I might be tolerant right now, but one day I won’t.”

              “Why do we always have to be cleaning? Can’t we let the room not 100 % perfect once in a while? Seriously, I said I’ll do it tomorrow! Can you all leave me alone?”

              “Your sister asked you, and now I am, the rule is there for a reason, please respect it.”

              “You cannot even give me a fu***ng good reason to have done the rule, I’m sure! We’re not servant, tabarnak! (3)”

The centaur pointed the direction of the cabin. “Now, and I’m checking in ten minutes.” He was mad at her. She swore in French the whole way, like she had just done to Chiron.

Ann-Sophie ended up doing like asked. She wanted to just lie on her bed and lock her bedroom door, but it was not Katie or Miranda, it was the director. If she didn’t want to be in trouble, she had to do like told. She cleaned the little mess she had make. Swearing, but she did as ask. It didn’t prevent her for making a face at him when he came to check on the room with Katie. Especially at her sister, but Chiron saw it anyway.

              “I want to meet with you again. I will not tolerate the kind of behavior you had today. I’ll let you the night to think about it and after breakfast tomorrow, we’ll meet in my office.”

They left and Ann-Sophie shut the door the hardest she could. She could hear Chiron talking to the counsellor in the kitchen. She didn’t care. They could tell whatever they wanted.

She decided to eat by herself for that night instead of going to the pavilion. Katie didn’t come to get her, nor Miranda, and it was perfectly fine. She shared a sandwich with Monsieur Patate, who didn’t seam to be near leaving her. She ended up falling asleep on the couch, with her new dog cuddling. He seemed to be a good behaved animal.

She woke up in the middle of the night stressed. She realised the trouble she caused. What if Chiron kicks her out for her bad behavior? She still had sworn at him and replied not so well, as well as disobeying to many rules that day. She started shaking. What if, this time, she really had nowhere to go? She didn’t have family in her home province, and even if her friend’s mothers liked her, they would not take her in their home, especially if it was because she was kicked out. They had already told her they couldn’t be her foster family, when it was not going well with her family of the last months. She wanted to cry. Katie and Miranda didn’t seem to like her, she was not really talking to Daisy or any other siblings she had. They were supposed to be her family, but she didn’t feel like she was part of theirs. They were strangers, after all.

She woke up the next morning tired of a lack of sleep. And even more stressed. She didn’t want to meet Chiron again. She wanted to cry. She started packing a few things in a bag and she left them on her bed when it was time to go to the Big house. He was kicking her up for sure, why not starting packing early? It would not even be a surprise, she couldn’t even pretend she would. That was how things were with Ann-Sophie. She was always kicked out. Or force to stay with families she hates until they had enough.

She entered in the office slowly. Head down.

              “I can see you thought of what you said and how you behaved. Sit down.”

She did like he asked. She was shaking, and she was pretty sure it was obvious. He could see she was scared.

              “I am sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking or why I said that. I will think about it next time something makes me mad.”

              “I accept your apologies if you promise me you will work on your attitude.”

              “You’re not kicking me out?”

              “No! We don’t kick people out of here, unless they really behave badly. But let’s say you’re not starting the summer the good way. This place is the safest place for you, and where you have family. Please, don’t turn your back on us and correct yourself.”

              “I will behave better, I swear. I want to. I’ll make an effort.”

Chiron nodded. Ann-Sophie didn’t really know what she’d do to improve, but she was willing to try not to scream at people as soon as something didn’t please her. Chiron talked with her on ways to calm her down, ways to express disagreement without getting mad. They talked about things that could motivate Ann-Sophie to improve behavior, and consequences.

“Not getting kicked out?”

Chiron nodded, but he didn’t look that convince about this being enough.

“I’ll find something to motivate you. Playing soccer with your siblings could be a good reason, or at least I thought yesterday, but it turned out you still got mad at Katie and I, so… I’ll find something.”

She left the office feeling better. She was still at camp. She joined Mélodie and Émilie, who asked her where she was lately. She decided to lie. She didn’t want her friends to think she was stupid or something. Or stop liking her.

              “What was the matter yesterday, I saw you arguing wit Chiron and your counsellor…” Émilie said. Of course, people had seen her.

              “Can we talk about something else. I just went out of a meeting with him about it and I’d like to think about everything else, ok?”

They went to their Ancien Greek class. Émilie said something to make her laugh. Annabeth, who was teaching, told them probably a few times to stop talking in the back of the room, but the class was so boring. But Ann-Sophie was, for once, the first to shut up. She couldn’t have Chiron knowing about those warnings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) My name is Alina, I speak a bit more French than English. German?  
> (2) I love you dad, and I miss you  
> (3) Tabarnak is a swear word in Quebec province.


	3. When you thought your U17 soccer skills could be helpful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann-Sophie is now settled at Camp Half-Blood. But she'll learn something that will make her quite happy... After all, Ann-Sophie is a competitive teenager. Let's see if she can beat Jessie Fleming at sports...

It had been now a bit more than a week since Ann-Sophie arrived at camp, and she finally understood how the schedule worked, how training would go, etc. She had started to talk to other people than just Mélodie and Émilie. Morgane, the girl from France, was often with them, as she barely could speak English. There was also that Swiss girl Alina, who hung out a bit with them. Ann-Sophie was now ok with Katie and Miranda. She had started by apologizing. Started to try to get to know her siblings: Daisy, the twins…

When Ann-Sophie went out of her room, she new something was up. Outside, people would run with Canadian flags. Even some campers Ann-Sophie had no idea if they were actually Canadians, but maybe they were just having fun.

              “Are we July first already?” she asked Jude.

The kid was walking down the stairs. He was wearing Canadian shorts. One leg was red maple leaves prints on white, and the other leg, the opposite.

              “Yeah. Shouldn’t you know, you’re Canadian too, right?”

She looked at Daisy, who was putting milk in her cereal bowl, and clearly, she didn’t care much about it either. French Quebecer mostly didn’t celebrate Canada Day. They celebrated something else, a week earlier. It was Saint-Jean Batiste, celebrated by French Canadians, and especially in Quebec province, where it was also Quebec national day. Speeches were less patriotic/separatist than before Ann-Sophie was born, but her province still considered itself like a nation in a nation. If it was not because she was in the United States and had just arrived at camp the day before Saint‑Jean Batiste, she would have worn her blue _Fleur de lys_ t-shirt on June 24 th.

When she left her cabin, she noticed new campers walking by the cabins. They looked to just arrive. One of them, a blond girl with curly hair – Athena? – was showing the others around. So not a first-year camper. With her was a red-hair teenager girl about Ann-Sophie’s age, a girl who was probably her little sister, and a black boy. When the group arrived by Nemesis’ cabin, a camper named Mikaella ran into the arms of the blond girl.

              “Sarah! You’re finally here? What took you so long? You were attacked on your way, didn’t you?”

Mikaella seemed to be happy the girl, Sarah, was there. It didn’t take long for a group to form. Clearly, Sarah was known here.

Ann-Sophie returned to her bedroom. She couldn’t help but looking at the girl. After a few hugs with other teens, Sarah left the black boy to Mikaella before heading to Athena’s cabin. Ann‑Sophie was right about the godly parent. Her curly hair, put in one side and shaved the other side of her head, didn’t lie. And Ann-Sophie found her very cute.

It was not a surprise to the Demeter daughter. It was clear in her mind since a year or two that she liked girls. Her first crush dated from sixth grade. While some girls in her class started talking boys, she realised she had no interest in them. But she realised she wished one of her friends were more than that. She never told her, since that girl was into boys anyway. And Ann‑Sophie was taken into another foster home, so she never saw her again.

It had been tough at first, to accept the truth. That’s when she was the worst with her foster families. She didn’t like herself. She was not normal – turned out she would never be a normal kid anyway – and she wanted people to pay for that. She had not even told Mélodie and Émilie yet. It was her most secret thing. She still had to figure out if they would be ok with it. They never brought anything about gay people. But at the same time, Mikaella had a girlfriend at camp, and they never said anything about it either. And one of Mélodie’s brother, the counsellor, had a boyfriend. But Ann-Sophie was still scared of telling them. And not ready yet. When she gets a girlfriend, maybe.

She continued her day like any others, but she couldn’t help but stare at Sarah the whole Ancient Greek class. She looked so wise compared to Ann-Sophie, and it wasn’t only because she had already been to the camp. She was a daughter of Athena, she was by default wiser than any other person. And it made her completely out of Ann-Sophie’s range.

At least, she didn’t look to have a boyfriend. It would have break her heart, even if the teen was out of range. She needed to figure out a way to talk to her. She knew she had to start by one way: not acting stupid. There was no way Sarah noticed her because she did something completely wrong.

When she got into the pavilion for dinner, Chiron was patiently waiting for all camper to come. Even Hypnos children, which was very rare, they always missed the call because they were sleeping, so Ann-Sophie wondered if something was up.

              “Now that everyone that was supposed to arrive is here, I can finally announce you the big news!” the director said when everyone was seated at their table.

He started talking about a competition, starting five days later. What, that soon? How were they supposed to be good if they knew only five days early? Was Ann-Sophie too competitive?

              “We will have the first ever Demigod Olympic games. We’ll play sports against Jupiter Camp, the Hunters as well as the Amazons. There is a list of sports you can do, available at my office. You must decide for tomorrow at noon, considering the date. Using different powers is allowed, so if the Demeter want to scrap the soccer field every game, they can. As long as you help putting it back right after. You will all play three sports. It will last ten days, starting Friday. We will travel by plane to Jupiter Camp Thursday. We won’t have Fourth of July fireworks on the beach this year, but Hephaestus himself will make sure those his children made will be used for the Opening ceremony that night.”

There was a question period. How many sports there were, if we had to choose it by talent, how it was chosen, was it first to sign for to do, etc. Alina questioned the number of sports. She looked a bit terrified with three.

Ann-Sophie hoped there would be a place for her on the soccer team. She was a new camper, but she had the chance to play the day before, and had left a lot of people impressed.

Everyone was excited and talked about it for the whole evening. Apollo’s kids had a hard time keeping people singing around the fire, everybody was gossiping and chatting. Émilie wanted to do swimming, if there was, and was willing to try everything that included water.

They gave a look at the list, even if it was not their turn yet to choose. Soccer was in, and Ann‑Sophie was surprised when she saw hockey. Really? Émilie decided to try diving, and soccer, as well as obviously doing all kind of swimming. Ann-Sophie wanted to play hockey, and maybe cycling. She hoped it was not cycling on a track inside. Turning in a round was not her thing. She liked being out, and seeing around while going fast. She approached her friend Alina to inform her about the sports. She had asked, and she had mention being in the U18 program of her country in hockey at some point.

              “Hockey is in the list, you’re better signing up.”

              “How is that possible. The romans built an ice rink? You’ve got to be kidding! And of course, I will! It’s like if you didn’t get to be on the soccer team. We represented our country in the youth category, like… I just hope Chiron won’t force me to play more than hockey. I did a tournament this year that lasted more than a week, and it was exhausting.”

Alina was more than happy to be able to play her sport. Ann-Sophie wondered why she absolutely wanted to focus on only one sport, but didn’t question the swiss hockey player.

The Demeter cabin looked to all wanting to subscribe in soccer, or almost. Brushing her teeth, that was all Ann-Sophie heard about. Then, Katie entered her bedroom as she was getting into bed, the dog next to her.

              “I know you’re excited that soccer is in the list too, and that apparently you played a good level, but since you’re new here and soccer is a popular sport, don’t get your hopes up. We have yet to see you play anyways, and I cannot take your word for it.”

She couldn’t believe. Her sister thought she lied when she had mentioned being in the youth program the other day. Katie couldn’t be serious, right?

              “I _am_ in the U17 soccer program. Google it if you want, you’ll see my name on the roster for the January camp. Why would you not take me, really?”

              “I can’t google it and you know it. Too dangerous just to prove you right or wrong. The world doesn’t turn around you, you know. And the conversation is over now.”

It didn’t take much for Ann-Sophie to start screaming at her sister. Who was she to enter her room and tell she was a liar? _Return in your barn and leave me alone_! _Katie was just a bitch who wanted to rule her siblings, or what? She wasn’t the queen of the world._

              “Leave my room! Go back to your fucking barn you brag about. I think I know why you got one. Cause we all hate you!” Ann-Sophie ended up saying, after another arguing. She would never like Katie. She was that older sister you hated and made you do all the stuff you hated. Ann-Sophie wished she never known she had siblings. Couldn’t she stay an only child, uh?

Katie didn’t move at all. She stayed at the door, looking at her younger sister, in shock. Ann-Sophie knew Katie was about to cry, but she didn’t look at her. She didn’t deserve any apology. _She_ had provoked the fight to happen.

It was too long for her sister to do as told, so Ann-Sophie took off. Her dog, who noticed her running out, followed her. Ann-Sophie ran the fastest she could by the woods, without looking back. Monsieur Patate was still next to her, tail up like a happy puppy. He was very energic and that run must feel good for him.

Ann-Sophie didn’t plan on stopping before being exhausted. She heard someone scream her name. She thought it was Katie or Miranda, so she was definitely not going to look back. If there were people she didn’t want to see, it was them! She ran an extra 100 meters before feeling a hand grabbing her right arm.

              “Vas-tu arrêter, putain?” (1)

Ann-Sophie immediately stopped. Not a sister since Daisy didn’t use the word “putain” to swear and it was not a Quebecer accent, so it wasn’t Émilie or Mélodie either. She turned to see her Swiss friend breathing noisily. She had sprinted to catch her without doubts. She continued talking in her _I-learned-it-at-school_ French.

              “What are you doing? Why are you running away? Why do you do that?”

Ann-Sophie couldn’t help but crying. She just wanted to be alone and play soccer at the competition. She started explaining all that to her friend. Her feelings. The way she could never be alone five minutes. Her worries about the competition. How she hated her counsellors. Alina let her talk. She didn’t seem to understand everything said, she spoke German after all, but never said anything to cut the Quebecer, even if she was blubbering for ten minutes to her. When Ann‑Sophie seemed to be done, the Swiss teen talked.

              “Listen, I don’t want to say you’re wrong. You’re used to be an only child and now you live with all your siblings you never known. I find it hard too, and I was used to having one brother and we’re only three Hebe kids here. I don’t always get along with Alyssa either, but you need to try. And if you continue running away and screaming at people like you just did, of course you won’t play soccer. I’m not saying that was ok to treat you like a liar, but it was not ok to tell Katie to fuck off like you did.”

Ann-Sophie was not ready to tell Alina she was right. She was still in that arguing mood, but at the same time she wanted to keep her friend. So she shut her mouth before telling something stupid. She knew she was wrong when she ran off, but she needed it. It was all she ever known. When something wasn’t right, she ran away. Except this time, it was Alina who found her instead of a police officer.

They talked for a few minutes before Alina asked her to go back to the camp before everyone start looking out for her. Ann-Sophie didn’t want to face her counsellor, or even worse, Chiron, but she knew she had no choice. They continued their conversation walking home. Ann-Sophie had no clue where she was, when she ran off, she just go whatever she felt like without looking, but after a few miles, they were guided by the screams of people fighting in the arena, and other usual camp noises there was.

When she heard Mélodie screaming her name, she almost stopped to hide in a tree, like when she was a kid. It wouldn’t be hard, it was starting to be dark. She didn’t want to see anyone. Her friend was looking for her. The whole camp probably was, and Ann-Sophie wanted to shit her pants. This time, Chiron was going to kick her out. It was her third warning in a about a week. It was over. She’d return into the system. Ann‑Sophie felt sad for the first time in years, and she realised she had a problem. Why couldn’t she feel happy? She should belong there, but she couldn’t feel safe. She couldn’t trust anyone else that her friends and their parents. And again, she had known them for a few years now. Knowing she was a demigod and being in a demigod place was supposed to help with all her problems, why was she searching for trouble again?

She realised she had an attitude problem. She needed to meet someone. She needed help. Someone to make her feel better, to make her feel safe and like she belonged somewhere. That was it, she didn’t belong anywhere. She felt the tears coming again, her lips were shaking. Alina and she had been silent for a few minutes, and the Swiss noticed something was up.

              “If you want, I can ask you meet Chiron without Katie. I can be there if it helps you. We can tell Mélodie not to alert everyone of where you are. But please don’t run off again. You caused enough trouble today.”

Ann-Sophie was shaking, but she continued walking anyway. The daughter of Apollo ended up finding them. “Thanks gods you’re ok! Where were you? Why did you run off? Did something happen?”

Alina made a sign to let go, and Ann-Sophie was thankful for that. But Mélodie was Mélodie, and she didn’t quit that soon.

              “Does it have something to do with Katie? I saw she was pretty mad. Chiron couldn’t find you and he got Émilie, Alina and I looking after you. He didn’t want the whole camp to know yet, he hoped you’d come back after you calmed down.”

Ann-Sophie looked up to her friend, and immediately went into her arms for a hug. She was wetting parts of her t-shirts from the tears, but she knew Mélodie wouldn’t care. She didn’t even know what to tell her best friend.

She went back to the camp with a head down. She had realised she caused trouble again. This time, she didn’t know what to tell Chiron. But she couldn’t defy him this time. It was not a simple room cleaning. She had insulted her counsellor quite badly, and she had tried to leave camp again. Ok, she didn’t even realise she was trying to run away, she just wanted to be alone and running made her feel better, but Chiron didn’t know that. She had left the camp once, he thought she did again, she was sure of it.

She went directly for the Big House. She saw Chiron in his office by the window. Katie was with him. She didn’t want to face her sister yet, but she knew she had to tell the director she was there.

              “Mélo, can you tell Chiron I’m at my… no wait, Miranda will probably scream at me and I don’t need it right now. Can you tell Chiron I’m around? You’re going to the infirmary anyways, right? You’ll see when Katie leaves.”

Alina proposed to go in her cabin, to what Ann-Sophie agreed. Alina had a room in the basement, and except sometimes her younger brother, no one was going there. It was not laundry day either. They’d be alone, and that was all Ann-Sophie wanted. Mélodie nodded to tell Chiron when he’d be done with Katie.

Before heading to the cabins, they heard Katie raise her voice.

              “She never liked me and as soon as I tell her anything, she starts screaming? I’m sure she pretended to be a soccer star just to have attention and avoid a dirty task!”

              “Katie, you’ll have to calm down too. Ann-Sophie is not an easy teen, I know. She has a bit of a background too, so please don’t be too rough with her. You’ll have to be patient. She looks like someone who don’t accept authority and that’s a bit worrying. But if you use a defiant tone when you talk to her, of course she’ll talk back. I think you’ll have to give her some space. Avoid entering in her personal space to end her hopes, next time.”

Ann-Sophie couldn’t hear more about her case, she left in a hurry to Hebe’s cabin, hoping to see no one. Alina had almost to run to catch her, but Ann-Sophie didn’t realise her friend was not following until she got on the porch and realised she was better entering with Alina in her cabin.

Ann-Sophie closed the door of Alina’s bedroom as soon as she got there.

              “He almost called me a troubled kid. Is the world against me?”

              “He also told Katie to give you some space and be nicer to you, you know. He knows it’s on her part too. He didn’t completely blame you, you’re lucky. Try calming yourself a little before he comes to talk to you, ok?”

An-Sophie made a little smile to her friend. How could she stay so calm and be so nice with her?

It wasn’t long before Alyssa knocked at the door.

              “Alina, I don’t know who you are with, but Chiron wants to meet her.”

Ann-Sophie stood up. “Wish me good luck!” She ran upstairs, thinking Chiron wouldn’t want to wait. She was very nervous.

Chiron’s face was serious. Ann-Sophie decided not talking unless asked to until she was in his office. She hoped Katie was gone. She didn’t feel like seeing her yet.

              “It will be just the two of us. We need to talk, and I don’t want Katie there. I already talked with her.”

She started shaking. She felt like she was a desperate case. She followed the man to his office, and sat down as soon as she saw the chairs. She had enough emotions for the day, and her body was kind of letting her down.

              “Listen, I think you know your behavior is not what I asked for last week. I thought you were going to improve. I don’t know what to say or what to do for you to behave correctly, I’ll be honest.”

Tears filled her eyes. She didn’t know either. She wanted to try, but when something happened, she completely forgot camp rules or authority figures, and she didn’t shut her mouth. Then, she was pissed and ran away. Typical Ann-Sophie Flowers. She had improved still a bit, she had come back instead of hiding. But Chiron was not going to buy that.

He lectured her for five minutes once again on how running away is not good, as well as arguing with her counsellors. Then, to Ann-Sophie’s surprise, he calmly gave her some hopes.

              “I tried being patient. So I’ll tell you now. I thought of letting you play soccer like you should have the right to, I don’t know why Katie told you no, but with your little, hum, run away, I decided to let a blank spot. Tomorrow morning, most campers have filled the different forms, but someone’s hesitating a lot to play soccer or not. I proposed him to wait. If you behave incorrectly once again, he’ll take your place. At any time until the end of the tournament. Is it something that could motivate you enough to so something right and not fighting with your sisters?”

She was not kicked out. And she could play soccer still. She obviously agreed with the deal. It was way better than not playing at all!

              “Now, Katie was wrong to tell you those things too, so you should both apologise. But Ann-Sophie, can you please be nice to her. I know she is not so patient with you. She is quite stressed out lately, so she is more likely to argue with you. If you are both more patient and more tolerant, you should end up getting along a little for the end of the summer, maybe?”

Ann-Sophie made a little faint smile. They were quite the same. _Don’t get on my nerves because I’ll fight back_.

She was dismissed and she went back to her cabin after subscribing in two sports. She noticed Katie was in her barn, so she knocked and entered. Katie didn’t look so good, but Ann-Sophie still sat at her table.

              “Look, I shouldn’t have told you what I said, I was mean, and I’m sorry. I’ll try to be nicer next time. But please, I am not a liar.”

              “Ok, I might have been mean too. Now I know you are not lying, Chiron proved me. He told me your soccer coach is a roman demigod who tried protecting you…”

Oh my god, Bev Priestman! Ann-Sophie wondered if she knew about that competition. If she did, she would come cheer on her former camp if she could. Ann-Sophie couldn’t _not play_. What would coach say if one of her players wasn’t playing a tournament and wasn’t injured? She couldn’t tell her what was going on at camp. She’d never be invited again.

Ann-Sophie left in a hurry. She wanted to find out when was the next camp. It’s by going in her room she realised: she couldn’t use internet. Even in a protected camp, it was still considered dangerous to use technology. That was ridiculous, monsters couldn’t enter!

She decided to go to the strawberry field. Helping her cabin was a good way to apologize. She passed by the Athena daughter called Sarah on her way. Her crush. Who kind of smiled as she walked next to her. Ann-Sophie wasn’t sure if the smile was directed at her, but she smiled back, her heart started beating fast. The first happy thing since the announcement of the competition. She hoped she didn’t know about that drama that just had happened. If she was even gay… or interested in Ann-Sophie at all. But the Quebecer didn’t want to ruin her chances if they existed. So, she wanted to behave the best possible. For Sarah and for coach Priestman. And Ann-Sophie herself, obviously. She wanted to play soccer, after all!

 

She didn’t say anything mean until they were leaving. So, for now, she was playing. She hated the fact the other camp was in California. They had to take a plane. She was sick a bit on the way there, obviously. At least, she was sitting with Mélodie and Émilie, they knew her. But she still felt bad for them.

The valley was impressive, and they got a quick visit of the camp. Then, they lined-up to approach the city borders. Ann-Sophie didn’t really understand why, but she noticed there were statues all around the city, every hundred meters. She followed the group, and finally got to a statue.

              “Parent, name?”

Ann-Sophie didn’t expect at all the statue to talk, so she startled. She even let a scream go out of her mouth, which made a couple of campers laugh behind her. She was just too busy talking with Mélodie and Alina.

              “Demeter.”

              “And your name?”

Thanks to her bad English, she had heard “Parent’s name” but when she heard the girl behind saying, “Athena, Annabeth Chase”, she realised she was supposed to tell him her name, so he can check it on his list.

              “Ann-Sophie Flowers, sorry.”

              “Thank you, leave you weapon here. They are forbidden in the _Pomerium_.”

Ann-Sophie wanted to ask what he was talking about, but she figured out it was better not to ask. The statue looked a little pissed already, she didn’t want to get him mad because she didn’t speak English well enough – she realised only later that the Romain camp used some words in Latin when they talked – so she continued her way and figured out she’d asked someone later.

She visited the city with her siblings. They were led by a centurion of the camp. Ann-Sophie had no clue how things worked at camp Jupiter, but clearly, it was not by parents like camp Half-Blood. Leila kept talking about legion, and Ann-Sophie had lost her. It wasn’t that hard. Following a conversation wasn’t always easy for the Quebecer. Especially when people talked behind her. Jude and Marguerite were doing everything but shutting up. Daisy and Ann-Sophie asked them to lower their voice at least five times during the visit.

The city was not very big. Only a few hundreds of habitants. But Ann-Sophie found it prettier than most place she visited. It looked ancient, despite Leila saying the camp moved sometimes. Ann‑Sophie looked at the university with no envy at all. She hated school, and no one would make her change her mind about it. Katie was already telling Miranda how it was a nice building and all. That was where Katie studied, then? Ann-Sophie shrugged. It looked beautiful from the outside, but Ann-Sophie was not meant to be in a class. _Bring me on a field, strawberry or soccer field, I don’t care, but not sitting for hours!_

Leila told them she was a legacy of Ceres. “That’s why I proposed to make the visit to your cabin in particular, I figured we could have a connection because of our mom.”

Ann-Sophie looked at Katie confused.

              “Demeter didn’t keep her name in Romain mythology. Ceres is mom on her Romain appearance.”

The blond girl made a shy smile. She felt so dumb today.  She had way too many stupid questions. Who’s Ceres, what’s a pomerium? Why the statue talks? Couldn’t she be smart like Sarah instead? She was sure the Athena daughter didn’t ask anyone those questions. And why a connection would be made with Leila because they shared a mother? Ann-Sophie didn’t care at all about that girl. Ok, she didn’t really care about Katie either, let’s admit it.

Leila asked if there was anyone gluten intolerant. Ann-Sophie frowned. Why would they? They were children of Demeter, it would sound a little weird, no? It was like if Émilie was scared of the water. Or an Apollo child hating music, or being very prone to sunburns. The centurion made a little faint smile, as if she was disappointed. “So I am the only one? Uh…”

Ann-Sophie looked at Daisy with big eyes. Leila was intolerant to gluten? Poor girl. Ann-Sophie’s favorite meal was anything that include pastas – seriously, she had been eating almost only that since her arrival at camp – or bread with lots of grains in for breakfast. Stuff with plenty of gluten! Poor girl…

They finally went to the dorms. Ann-Sophie was given the keys to her room. She was happy to see Émilie enter in five minutes later. She feared being roomed with someone she didn’t like, or barely knew. Em was perfectly perfect. Her best friend.

              “They roomed Mélo with Morgane, I think. I’m not sure.”

Ann-Sophie put her bag on the bed, went to the bathroom, and came back proposing to go out. After a day travelling, she was not going to lay on her bed all evening. The ceremony was around eight, and Ann-Sophie wanted to eat and have the time to prepare before.

Mélodie joined them in a café around. Ann-Sophie didn’t like coffee, which was not a bad thing considering her very hyperactive mind, so she ordered a hot chocolate mug. She was used to the very cheep and sugary cocoa, and she was a little surprised. She couldn’t tell if she like it or not. She was sometimes a little difficult with food.

 

They returned to the comfortable dorm, and Ann-Sophie looked at what she had as nice pants. They had an official top, orange like the camp t-shirt. There was just one problem: Ann-Sophie didn’t own pants. She had jeans. Pants she wore to do sport. But no black pants people wore for working in companies or for special occasions. Ann-Sophie never stayed long enough somewhere to need one.

              “Em… do you have extra pants? I don’t have any.”

The red-hair girl rolled her eyes. “Ask Mélo.”

Ann-Sophie ran the hallway up to the room she thought was Mélo’s. Instead, Sarah Irwin opened the door. Ann-Sophie startled when she noticed the Athena daughter.

              “I knocked at the wrong door, I’m so sorry…” Ann-Sophie said, trying not to panic. She was a little bit in distress. She didn’t know what to tell her. _What if she thinks I’m weird?_

              “It’s ok, no problem. Did you look for something in particular?” Sarah said after a bit of silence that was starting to be a little awkward.

_Black pants_ , Ann-Sophie thought. But she would never say it loud. She couldn’t ask her crush if she had some, even if they looked to wear the same size or almost. Sarah was shaped about the same than Ann-Sophie.

The Demeter daughter timidly made no from the head, and left. Turned back.

              “Do you know which door is Mélodie’s room?”

Sarah shrugged, and made a little polite smile. “I guess she’s a new girl like you, uh? I don’t know who she is, sorry.”

              “A blond daughter of Apollo.”

              “Apollo…,” Sarah whispered, her face turning to a sad emotion, before adding, “I might know which girl you are taking about, then, but I haven’t notice where she’s roomed.”

Sarah looked down. Ann-Sophie wondered if there was something with Apollo, the way the Athena girl said the god’s name was weird. It sounded like a mix of sadness and nostalgia.

Ann-Sophie made a shy smile and left the door. Looked around her. If it wasn’t 101, was it 102? 103? 104? She wished they had a phone, so she could text. She didn’t see herself knocking at every door. She decided to go back to her room, to shy to disturb more people. How lucky was she, that she knocked at her crush’s door? It was a little humiliating.

Émilie had changed when Ann-Sophie got in her room.

              “Mélo didn’t have any?”

              “I don’t know, I can’t remember what room she has.”

Émilie laughed, “I forgot to tell you! She exchanged room with two other girls. I don’t remember the reason. She’s on the other floor, room 203.”

Ann-Sophie made big eyes. She considered herself lucky she didn’t try every door on the floor, she would have never found her friend! But why did Sarah not tell her? Did Ann-Sophie knock at the right door at all?

She knew she was near her friend’s room when she heard signing. Mélodie was always singing. All the time. Morgane seemed to be joining for chorus or parts of songs she knew. Mélodie had a beautiful voice, probably because of her father. Ann-Sophie thought she wore her name well. She dreamed of becoming a singer since she was a kid. Wanted to subscribe to The Voice when she gets old enough. Ann-Sophie thought she could win it. The province of Québec had its version, La voix, and she wanted her friends to audition for it. You never knew how far she could go.

Ann-Sophie got lucky, Mélodie had thought of bringing extra clothes, knowing Ann-Sophie probably forgotten about it. She was happy her friends always had her back. What would she do without them?

She returned to her room, where Émilie was doing her hair, and Alina had joined them. She was sitting on Ann-Sophie’s bed, claiming she didn’t know what to do with her hair, and was looking for ideas. Ann-Sophie looked at Émilie as hopeless as Alina. She had not even thought of what she’d do. Émilie laughed, “I guess I’m here to save the day, then. You never arrange your hair? Really, ponytails and braids are all you know, the both of you?”

Ann-Sophie and Alina both blushed. They hated playing with their hair, no doubts. Both of them. Émilie rolled her eyes, and took her hair straightener to do something. Ann-Sophie was thankful she had her friends. She joked as Émilie did her hair. That was all she could do that night. She was used to be the funny one.

They went together to the ceremony. Alina seemed to be the calmest of all. Like if the opening ceremony was nothing. Which was weird, they were promised a big show, fourth of July style of fireworks – and apparently, there were no better fireworks than at Camp Half-Blood – and the performances were said breathtaking. How could she not be excited? They would enter in hundreds of campers. The stadium was probably full.

Ann-Sophie sang along the songs played that night. Rolled her eyes to the never-ending speeches and celebrated with her friends. That night was supposed to be all fun, the next day, she would care about competition. The fireworks were amazing. Ann-Sophie wondered how the Hephaestus kids did it, but they had made animated fireworks. With scenes representing independence, fighting scenes, as well as last-minute sports event scenes. They had taken the same fireworks than the supposed party for the fourth of July. Ann-Sophie didn’t even realise it was the fourth of July until the last firework went in the sky. She was a Canadian after all, right?

The lineup to leave the stadium never ended. They gave demigod phones to every camper over thirteen years old, and things similar to iPods to youngers. In order to keep up with their schedule, know what task they had, when they had, call their friends, etc. If the first purpose was the competition, Ann-Sophie knew how useful it would be. Normal technology attracted monsters, so using a phone was said dangerous. She was thankful smart demigods had found a way to get them some sort of communication forms. Because she didn’t see herself using rainbow Iris messages in front of mortals to call Émilie or Mélodie if she ever returned to Québec. She was a little scared they would go back home after the summer, leaving her behind. Unless she behaves well enough for one of their moms to agree to tutor her?

She went to sleep thinking about her soccer game she’d play at noon the next day. They opened against the hunters. Ann-Sophie was curious to see how it’d go. She had a little bit of difficulty to sleep. In about a week, she had already got used to have a double bed. She hit the wall a couple of times with her knees, arms, or whatever part she moved during the night. She couldn’t find a position she was comfortable. It was probably just stress. She kept thinking about how ridiculous she sounded when she knocked at Sarah’s door. How dumb she was. She had ruined her chances to be even friend with her. Sarah probably thought she was the weirdest teen out there.

 

Ann-Sophie stepped on the field for the game. There was one thing Ann-Sophie was confident about: there was a few Demeter kids on the team. Miranda was the goalkeeper. Promised to make grow enough roots to stop a low ball. Ann-Sophie just wished she could jump high. Katie was their captain. Ann-Sophie hoped she wouldn’t be too bossy.

              “I’m a midfield, can it be my position? Usually, I play at the right and I throw in.”

Katie nodded. They had to make the team with what they had anyways, so those who had played kept their position, unless someone had it already.

              “Does someone want to do the corners?”

Ann-Sophie proposed herself. She reprimanded a laugh when she heard Cory Wenner ask what corners were. The Nike’s child was determined as always to win, but Ann-Sophie started questioning his knowledge on the sport. She thought corners were quite basics, right? She got scared her teammates would have them getting offsides calls for nothing, now. Or giving the opponents corners just because why not.

              “Have you never played football?” Brandon Herdman, a son of Ares, asked. He had an accent that made Ann-Sophie think of the Canadian senior team coach. Were they related?

Ann-Sophie was tempted to ask about John, but decided against it. They had to focus on their game. She knew if she went off topic, Katie or Cory would tell her.

The game started quite weird. There was that Hunter that stoke lighting to prevent Camp Half‑Blood to pass between two hunters. At some point, the ball stopped mid-air and went in completely opposite direction to go directly at Ann-Sophie’s feet, who just smiled. Whoever teammate had done that was great.

“Do your youth team magic, Flowers,” she heard someone behind her say.

It didn’t take long for the hunters to look at the referees.

              “He redirected the ball completely. It should be a foul! Seriously!”

Calder, who was the one doing it, being a son of Zeus, replied, “Go to hell, Thalia! You tried electrocuting one of my teammate, and you argue on me using winds at my advantage? Oh come on, sister, we’re only having fun, no?”

Ann-Sophie suddenly got scared. _Do your magic with you ball_. What did Calder talk about? She was a good player, ok, but what use it was when she could be attacked by any force she didn’t even know existed. At half-time, the field was already a mess, filled with holes all over the places, roots on the ground between them. It was still scoreless. But Ann-Sophie wanted to win badly.

She ended up scoring. They relied too much on Thalia to prevent the ball from going in. Most hunters were good in archery, not playing with a ball, so unless they had nice powers, they didn’t play well. They got tired fast, because of their use. And that’s where the game changed totally. Ann‑Sophie had decided to let her sisters do power tricks. She had focused on keeping the ball at her feet, moving the ball well, and kept the most energy she could for the end. With ten minutes left, she was the only one to be able to sprint from one goal to the other. Almost no one had the power to get the ball from her, except from the people that had subbed in. She ran too fast for them, and they didn’t have enough fuel to use their powers to stop her.

Katie was the first one to hug Ann-Sophie when the final whistle got heard. Ann-Sophie was proud of her team. They had fought up until the end. And it was worth it. They had put in two beautiful goals, and that was what mattered to Ann-Sophie. She was excited about having scored one, but the team result was what kept her going. The attitude they had brought. Even if Cory spent all his playing time questioning the rules and asking things that felt so natural to Ann-Sophie.

              “Can any of you explain me the rules?” he ended up asking in the locker room after the game.

Brandon laughed and mocked a little. For once an Ares’ child could pick up on a Nike’s kid about sport. “Yeah, sure, let’s see how dumb you are. I’m born playing this game, I think I can explain how it’s done.”

Ann-Sophie rolled her eyes at the British teen. “Yeah, sure, just tell him the basics, ok? I don’t want him to be confused between different rules and having him mixing them up. Oh, by the way, are you related to John Herdman?”

The boy laughed. “Canadian, right?”

Ann-Sophie nodded, a little smile on her face.

              “He is cousin with my dad. I guess you’re a fan of Sinclair or something?”

              “Diana Matheson is my favorite player. I want to be on the national team some day. If you ever see him, can you tell him about me? I’m on the U17 program, but I don’t know if he pays attention to it.”

Katie rolled her eyes at her. “Can you stop bragging. You are not going to be on the national team, and who is that John guy, really? Who cares?”

Émilie, who had stayed silent the whole time, had a little nervous laugh before clearing her throat. “The Canadian senior team coach, Gardner. And before you ask, yeah, he is a British man. He is building up the Canadian program. They went from last place at the World Cup to bronze medal at London in fourteen months. Not bad, uh?”

              “That was only luck I bet!” someone said, chanting USA at the top of his lungs right after. Ann-Sophie tried her best ignoring it. The conversation was going for ridiculous, so she took her sport bag and left the room.

 

The first couple of days were quite going well. Ann-Sophie won all her games. She was excited to meet Jupiter Camp. They were the best opponent in both hockey and soccer, and Ann-Sophie loved tough games. Those you don’t know who will win, those that comes to who makes the least mistakes.

She met them two days in a row. First, in a hockey game that Ann-Sophie ended up winning by only two goals. The hunters and Amazons were so bad at hockey that two goals lead was called a closed game. She didn’t count the number of demigods falling on the ice, not being able to skate. The hunters looked like a bunch of five-year-old girls trying to catch up a pee wee team. Dangling around those was as easy as calling her dog to come over to eat.

During the handshake after the game against the host, Ann-Sophie couldn’t help but noticing the girl that had been her captain months before at her only soccer camp she went to. She stopped when she got to her.

              “Hey Jess, good game, by the way. You played hockey growing up, I could tell. You were the best player out there.”

              “Oh, thanks. I like helping out my team when I can. I just wonder why there’s hockey in this competition, really, have you faced the other teams? They’re so bad! I feel like when Canada faced Italia in Torino in 2006. It was bad.”

A legionnaire looked at Jessie with a weird look. “What do you have against Italia? You know Rome is in this country, right? I wouldn’t talk too bad about it. Just in case the gods listen.”

Ann-Sophie couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve never heard they played hockey. Let me guess, a bad last-place finish?”

Jessie nodded. Waved goodbye and continued shaking hands, mumbling a “good game” to every player she saw, like any good player do.

 

About a week into the tournament, Ann-Sophie had a day off and decided to go watch some curling. She had overheard Sarah was in that sport. It wasn’t forbidden to go see your crush, right? She sat at the top of the stands, hoping no one would notice her. She didn’t have an orange t-shirt on. She could have, to support the team, but she feared being seen there. Sarah was not one of her friends. Ann-Sophie wasn’t supposed to come over. And she didn’t want to be obvious about liking the Athena girl.

Ann-Sophie didn’t know much about curling. To be honest, she tried understanding the rules and how points worked as it went on. She realised quite fast Sarah seemed to be the one making decisions and screaming what to do. Not very surprising. Athena’s children were very good at strategy. It was a no brainer to put her in this position.

She saw a couple of seats at her right an Apollo daughter sitting next to Sarah’s counsellor Malcolm. They chatted about camp and competition, before Kayla went on a more serious topic.

              “How is Sarah doing lately? Last time I saw her before leaving for the fall, she was devastated by Analeigh’s death. Please tell me she’s over her.”

Malcolm made a little smile. Ann-Sophie wondered who was Analeigh. Maybe a daughter of Apollo? It would explain why Sarah looked nostalgic when Ann-Sophie said Mélodie was one of his daughters?

              “It’s been near a year now, I think she’s better. She didn’t really talk much about Ana, being honest, but I assume she still talked about it during late spring, because her father found out she loved a girl. She’ll spend her year at camp now, her father kicked her out.”

Ann-Sophie gasped. How could a father hate his child for being gay? She wondered how her own father would have reacted, if he was alive. Would he have difficulty accepting it?

Then it hit her. Sarah was gay. Maybe out of range, but at least she liked girls. Ann-Sophie felt butterflies in her stomach, a little hope. Sarah wasn’t straight. She had dated a girl, possibly an Apollo daughter, last year. Ann-Sophie wondered how she died. But she would never ask.

              “On that, I think Sarah will finally move on. She mentioned having a little crush to Annabeth. She told her because she knows Annabeth don’t judge or make stories about it. Can you actually keep the info to yourself? I don’t want the Aphrodites to find out.”

Ann-Sophie’s smile faded. Sarah was crushing about another girl. She felt so sad she almost left the arena. It couldn’t be her. Sarah wouldn’t crush on a troublemaker Demeter daughter. She was a smart girl. No way Ann-Sophie had chances, uh?

She stayed and still finished watching, since Team Irwin was winning. Ann-Sophie couldn’t help but smile. She wanted her camp to have great results.

As she was exiting the building, she felt someone tapping her shoulder. Ann-Sophie turned around. Hopefully it wasn’t Malcolm or Kayla that had noticed her. Instead, it was the curly blond hair girl she crushed on. Ann-Sophie panicked on the inside. Sarah knew she was there. How was she going to explain?

              “You came to see us? That’s nice!”

Ann-Sophie smiled, blushing a little, before congratulating the Athena on the win.

              “Thanks. The Amazons were not easy to beat today. You’ve come to the best matchup so far. Malcolm mentioned you seemed confused most of the time, so I assume it’s your first time watching curling.”

Ann-Sophie nodded. She tried keeping a straight face realising Malcolm had seen her and noticed her confusion. She didn’t recall him looking in her direction…

              “Malcolm told you I was there, and you just went after me? Is this what I understand?” Ann-Sophie risked.

It was Sarah’s turn to blush. She timidly passed a hand in her hair, on the side that was shaved. She seemed a little nervous. Why? Ann-Sophie was not someone to make people shy usually.

              “Actually, I went after you because… uh… I wanted to ask you out… I know we don’t know each other much except who’s our mothers, but I’d like to know you better. You seem to be a fun girl to hang around.”

A smile slowly formed on the Quebecer’s face. She felt her face becoming red. Sarah. Her crush Sarah Irwin was asking her out. Was it to be supposed to be a date or just a friendly thing? She was scared to ask, in case she mistaken it for an actual date. But at the same time, Sarah wouldn’t ask Ann-Sophie out of she had a crush on someone else, right? Could _she_ be the crush Malcolm was referring to? It would explain why he noticed her and told Sarah about it? But how could Sarah know she was gay? She had never told anyone. Unless she followed her that time Ann‑Sophie went for a morning jog with Monsieur Patate, and understood what she said in French to her dog… Ann-Sophie realised it was silly. Sarah was Canadian, yeah, but did she spoke enough French to understand dialogs, and why would she listen to someone talking to an animal, without Ann-Sophie noticing?

Ann-Sophie realised she needed to give an answer to the Athena daughter.

              “Yeah, sure! I’m not usually a shy person, but for some reasons I never had the chance to talk to you yet. When are you free and what are your plans?”

Ann-Sophie knew Sarah probably had a plan on where to take her. It was an Athena thing.

              “Well, you know, in a café around town. Unless you have better ideas?”

They talked on their way to the city. Ann-Sophie had a soccer meeting in the cafeteria of the dorms. She joked a bit on her way there. She was getting less shy than she was as minutes passed. It wasn’t a bad thing. Being comfortable with your crush meant maybe chemistry was passing, right? She saw Sarah laugh from what she was saying. Telling funny things was Ann-Sophie’s way to have a nice atmosphere, and to break the ice. It seemed to be working.

Sarah left her at the dorm entrance, and waved goodbye. Ann-Sophie timidly waved too, before going to the meeting. It was the first time in the tournament that Ann-Sophie couldn’t focus on what Katie, the captain, was saying. All she had in mind was the blond girl with curly hair she was going to go out with the next day.

When she entered in her dorm room that evening, Émilie had a questioning smile.

              “What make you so happy? You can’t stop grinning since you came from that meeting. I know you won your game this morning, but like…”

Ann-Sophie decided to lie. “Well, it was a good game. And I love playing against Jessie.”

She went on explaining who Jessie was to Émilie, despite them meeting during the first days of competitions. Ann-Sophie had sat next to her U17 soccer captain in a restaurant without noticing while out with Émilie and Mélodie, as well as during team handshake, but there was not been much time to discuss. They had done a little catching up with soccer camps, demigod stuff and school at the restaurant, though, and that was quite nice.

Ann-Sophie decided to go shower in hope Émilie would forget the conversation when she gets back. The Poseidon daughter was reading a book when Ann-Sophie returned in the room after a nice cold shower, as it was quite hot outside. Ann-Sophie was quite used to heatwaves, but she wished it wouldn’t last too long. She didn’t play so well when it was too hot outside.

              “Em, are you gonna read long? I’d like to get to sleep.”

The red hair made a little face. “Yeah yeah, sure.”

It took forever for the Demeter daughter to fall asleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Sarah. She was a little nervous, but also very excited. It was the first time a crush was actually gay. She didn’t really know how to react. Should she tell her friends? Keep it for herself for now? She didn’t know how they’d react, and Sarah’s dad reaction made Ann-Sophie doubting it was a good idea to come out. Even to Émilie, which she was very close to.

She dreamed of the Athena girl the whole night. She dreamed they were walking down the beach at camp Half-Blood, and Sarah told her she loves her. But then her dream changed. She saw Sarah, but she looked a little younger, and the right side of her head wasn’t shaved, probably before the trend? She was with a blond girl, but it wasn’t Ann-Sophie. She had never seen her before.

              “ _Let’s hide in there. No one will find us here,” the girl said to Sarah, pointing out a treehouse._

_“Ana, what if your mom sees us? Or my dad?”_

_“Please get in there and look at the beautiful sunset dad is setting for us. And mom knows. She gave me the permission to invite you over still, so I don’t think she minds really. I am not saying we should kiss in front of her, I want to give her the time to get used to me being gay, but she doesn’t hate you. That’s at least that. And why would your dad find us here? He will wait for you in the car like always. At worse enter in the house to say hi to mom. Why would he come in my old treehouse?”_

_Sarah nodded, and climbed the ladder with a smile. They shut the door behind them, making it slam, and Ann-Sophie woke up on that, falling down the floor._

Émilie made a little sound in her sleep. “Uh? What?”

Ann-Sophie swore. “You can sleep, I just forgot I had a tiny bed,” she whispered softly, just in case Émilie talked in her sleep and didn’t wake up because of her friend’s fall.

She returned to her bed and looked at the ceiling. The girl in her dream was probably the daughter of Apollo Sarah dated. It made sense, considering he made sunsets. Apollo was the god of the sun, right? It had to be Analeigh. Ann-Sophie wasn’t sure it was a good thing she was dreaming about Sarah’s ex she never met.

_“I didn’t show you those images for you to be scared of me. I want Sarah to be happy. And I know she likes you the same way she did love me. I’m not going to be mad if you girls date. It’s time for her to move on with her life. You can give her a reason to.”_

Ann-Sophie questioned where the voice in her head came from. The thing was she knew who it was. No doubts, it was Analeigh. The voice was the exact same than in her dream, and who had dated Sarah if not her?

She wondered if she was hallucinating. She knew the gods’ world was full on unexplainable things, but Analeigh was a daughter of Apollo, not Hades. Why was she hearing her voice? Was it a dream too? Was she crazy? How could she hear the voice of someone who had died?

She felt the dream of the treehouse scene was real. Dreams had the power to show you passed or present moments happening in other places of the world. That was a big reality for demigods. Rare were the nights with nice dreams or no dreams at all.

She thought of Analeigh. Ann-Sophie wondered how she died. Was she sick, like that Hades daughter at camp, Hannah? Did she die fighting monsters? And why was Ann-Sophie hearing her voice? Could she hear other people? Her dad, perhaps?

Tears filled her eyes, and she felt teardrops rolling down her cheeks, as she stared at the ceiling, in the dark. She heard Émilie shift in her bed. Heard a tired voice. “You ok?”

Ann-Sophie sighed. “I thought of dad. I miss him.”

Émilie stood up, and joined her friend in her bed. Ann-Sophie tried making her some place, but really, Émilie was half on the bed, half falling.

              “Em, you should go to bed. You have your swimming butterfly final tomorrow, and I have competition too, we need to sleep. I’ll be ok, you know. I’m a big girl.”

The red hair shrugged. Went back to the warm of her bed. Ann-Sophie turned around to face the wall, trying to find a good position to sleep. Or at least, that Émilie didn’t see she was still crying.

              “You know, it’s ok to cry. I will never judge you crying because you miss you dad. It’s totally normal. You love him. And I’m sure he’s proud of you. You made your way to a safe place, after all this time. Things will get better than when you left Québec. You are home, safe from monsters, at camp. I hope I can convince mom to stay at Camp Half-Blood, I love way too much that place. I’ll go to swimming competition still, at worse I’ll try to find a club around the camp, but I don’t feel like going back to Québec now. Not yet. I’m not ready, despite missing mom sometimes. I never had a bad relationship with her like way too many teens. I’m quite close to her. But I’ll stay with you. I think you’re more in need of friends than my mom needs me.”

Ann-Sophie smiled, even if Émilie couldn’t see her. She loved her best friend. Always there when she needed. Never got mad at her for showing up at her house in the middle of the night after a fight with foster parents. Even Nathalie never got mad at her when she saw her looking out for food the next morning, before school. Ann-Sophie knew she was home in the Marin’s home. There was a reason she hoped Nathalie or Sylvie would adopt her, before she found out she was a demigod. They treated her like their daughter, were the only one to make her feel she belonged somewhere, or that she wasn’t some sort of monster. Émilie and Mélodie were lucky to have good moms. The only negative thing Ann-Sophie had about those women, it was that they hid the truth too long. The three of them should have been recognized by the gods at max thirteen, according to a deal made a couple of years before. They were fourteen when they were first attacked. If it wasn’t from it, they’d still be living in Québec City at the moment. Ann-Sophie paled. Was Demeter ashamed of her? She gave her mother plenty of reasons to hate her, or pretend she didn’t exist. But what about Apollo and Poseidon? Mélodie and Émilie were not very troubled.

Ann-Sophie finally fell asleep, thinking she was not worth much. She woke up sad. She took a warm shower, and then looked by the window, trying to clear her mind. It was not very useful, she felt even more depressed. The sun over the valley was not even helping. _Nice for the try, though, Apollo_ , Ann-Sophie thought. And then she saw a familiar face by the door. Blond hair she had fallen in love with. A smile in her direction made her tears run away like fugitives. Sarah waved at her, a shy smile on her face. Ann-Sophie felt the butterflies go crazy in her stomach. She had a date with Sarah Irwin tonight. What was she sad about, again?

She tried focussing on her game despite excitement and nervousness the whole day. It was hockey semi-final. But Ann-Sophie knew she was playing the worst team out of the four. They were placed first, after all. It would be an easy win, even if Ann-Sophie played her worst game of the tournament.

Ann-Sophie rushed out. She ran to catch up to Sarah.

              “Are you competing today?”

              “No, not today. I heard you had semis against the Hunters in hockey. I have to admit I spent a lot of times in arenas lately. Not only for curling. I love watching hockey. It’s our national sport, or not?”

Ann-Sophie laughed. Mélodie hated hockey to death. The only one person around her that didn’t mind watching a game with her was Émilie. All her foster parents she had had hated watching sports. Same for any foster sibling or Demeter children. Daisy, Jude and Marguerite were Canadian too, but hockey was not something they liked, it seemed.

              “Thank you for coming, I guess, even if I’m pretty sure it’ll be boring even for our fans. We beat the Hunters so badly the first game against them… Can we skip to the final against Jupiter already? It’s the only competition we have.”

Sarah made big eyes. “Yeah, they’re so bad at hockey. At least the Amazons and Hunters can keep up in a couple of sports. Hunters crushed us in archery, they got gold and bronze. An Apollo got us the silver, thanks god, otherwise, the hunters had three girls on the podium!”

Ann-Sophie laughed once more, and said she had to go. It was true. There was a team meeting before the game.

She spotted Sarah in the stands for the semi-final. She couldn’t help but smile and was quite relieved no one noticed. It helped that she was wearing a cage helmet. She didn’t want to have to explain that stupid grin on her face.

The game went by quite smoothly, her opponent not being able to catch up their speed. The Hunters were a bit physical, which didn’t help their case at all, they were sent to the penalty box a couple of times. That was often what happened when a team was better than the other, they counteracted the speed by being over physical, and they played with women’s hockey rules, which not everyone was used to. Ann-Sophie tried keeping her game to passing more than shooting, otherwise, Camp Half-Blood would have won by a score of 15-0 or more.

 

She left the locker room first, rushing out. She wanted to have the time to prepare for her date, and had no clue what to wear. And she preferred the shower in her dorm than the arena. The arena ones were not always working great, and they were twenty in the teams, it was faster to run to her room than wait half an hour.

She grabbed the black pants she had borrowed from Mélodie for the ceremony. She had forgotten to give it back to her friend, and didn’t think she’d mind if Ann-Sophie wore them for a couple more hours. Then, the Demeter daughter proceeded to search for a nice top. For once, she didn’t have to wear that Half-Blood orange t-shirt she was tired of wearing. But she had brought almost nothing else, except sport clothes. She didn’t want to tell Émilie or Mélodie about the date, she knew they’d ask questions. But she also knew she was most likely going to borrow their clothes.

Émilie came back in the room when Ann-Sophie was making a mess of the content of her luggage.

              “What are you doing? What is this mess?”

Ann-Sophie turned as red as a tomato.

              “I… uh… I’m trying to figure out what to wear…”

              “What do you need? A simple t-shirt does do it?”

              “Well… can you promise not telling anyone? Someone invited me to a date. And I have no clue what to wear, all I have is orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt… Can I borrow some of your stuff?”

Émilie laughed, and then looked at her with curiosity. “Who invited you?”

Ann-Sophie pretended she didn’t hear, but Émilie was tenacious. She grabbed her by the arm, and when the blond girl faced her, she asked the question again.

              “Em, I don’t want you to tell Mélo and please, don’t ask more questions. I don’t know if it’ll work so I’d rather not tell who it is so you don’t ask too many questions.”

Ann-Sophie thought to herself she’d come back to her room with a sad face no matter what, and tell her best friend it didn’t go that well. Em and Mélo were used to her screwing things up all the time, it wouldn’t even surprise them. Ann-Sophie just didn’t want to tell she was going to a date with a girl. It was just too hard. She was not ready to come out. She just hoped Em wouldn’t be tempted to follow her. And wouldn’t tell Mélodie.

Ann-Sophie borrowed one of Émilie’s green top that accented Ann-Sophie’s eyes. She then put some jeans on, and left the room with only her key and some money. She stopped at the bank to exchange some drachmas for denarii, because the little city didn’t accept the money used at Camp Half-Blood in the little stores all around.

She saw Sarah walking to the little café. Thank gods, Ann-Sophie didn’t make her wait. She was even a little early. She came to Sarah by behind.

              “Hey, do you mind if I sit?”

She tried having a little sexy voice, but subtle enough that only Sarah could notice. The Athena daughter looked up, and immediately smiled. “Of course you can sit. That was a great game today, even if you say it was easy opponents. Your goals were great. You and Alina have good chemistry it seams?”

Ann-Sophie blushed. Of course that Sarah would have looked at her play in particular.

              “Thanks. Yeah, I guess you can say that about Alina and I. She plays so well… She makes me look great, actually. People on the team say she went to the Olympics or something. I don’t know if I should believe them, I mean, she’s just a little older than us, and the Olympics, it’s not nothing. And I don’t have internet access to look over the Switzerland roster from Sochi…”

Sarah smiled. Ann-Sophie didn’t want to brag about herself. It was easier to say someone else made her look good. Or at least, for hockey. She didn’t mind telling she was the best soccer player. But Ann-Sophie didn’t want to talk too much about herself, so she changed topic. She wanted Sarah to know she was interested in her.

              “What about you? How long have you been doing curling? Where are you from?”

They chatted for about an hour around a hot chocolate, laughing, and then, Sarah decided to show to her date her favorite spot so far in town. Ann-Sophie was curious to know what it was, and where. Sarah had been exploring the town, it seemed.

              “Actually, it’s Annabeth who showed me. That is one of her favorite spots to study. The architecture there is more than wonderful, and I know you’re probably not into books more, you seem to be more of an outdoor person from watching you in the field everyday, but the library is a piece of art in itself.”

Sarah was taking her to the library? She shouldn’t even be surprise, right? Where else would Athena children hang out, after all? Ann-Sophie wasn’t that sure she fit with Sarah, but she wanted to look her best, and try. It was the first time a crush liked her, she couldn’t give up just because Ann-Sophie didn’t like reading?

              “You noticed that I spend a lot of time in the field?”

Sarah laughed, “Well, yeah, with your siblings, yeah. I mean, I might have look for you a couple of times… you are a nice person to hang out with, but I guess I was too shy to go talk to you…”

Ann-Sophie blushed once more, and they entered in the library, and Ann-Sophie understood why Sarah loved the place. “You were right, it’s… crap, what’s the English word again…”

Sarah looked at her with a little shy smile and let Ann-Sophie search for her words for about a minute.

              “It’s ok, Ann-Sophie, stop searching for the word. You look says it all. I can see in your eyes that you’re amazed. Come over here.”

Sarah grabbed her by the arm in the rows of bookshelves. Ann-Sophie wondered why Sarah was doing that, but they got to a cul-de-sac. Ann-Sophie started to turn around, thinking Sarah went in the wrong direction.

              “No wait!” Sarah whispered (they were in a library after all). “That was planned to take you here. I noticed you didn’t like me showing attention, I haven’t heard a word on your sexuality, so I assume you aren’t out. I just wanted to be able to take your hands without you sending mine away.”

Ann-Sophie blushed, stupidly grinning. Of course Sarah thought of that, she was just the wisest girl Ann-Sophie ever met. Ann-Sophie grabbed both the Athena daughter’s hands, and pushed Sarah gently on the wall. Then put a hand on her left cheek. And as Sarah turned finally a little red with a little smile, Ann-Sophie approached her to kiss. She liked the feelings in her stomach when their lips finally touched. The shyness they both had.

              “I barely know you, but I know I love you already,” Ann-Sophie said. “I want to know you better. I just want you to be discreet about us, if it’s not too much to ask. I know you’re out already and you probably don’t want to go back into a closet mode, but I’m not exactly ready yet.”

              “It’s ok, I understand. I was in the closet at home not so long ago. But there’s nothing to be afraid at camp, most people are fine with it. Or they’ll learn not to mess with you. If they bother you, I’ll fight back.”

Ann-Sophie smiled and kissed Sarah once more. She knew she was in love: Sarah was a smart and nice girl, beautiful, strong, how could Ann-Sophie not love her?

They ended up back to their dorms, where they went apart, considering Ann-Sophie hadn’t tell her friends about all of it. Sarah wanted to introduce her date to her friends, but Ann-Sophie politely declined. “Not yet, I’m not ready.” She wondered if Mikaella and Erin knew who Sarah had invited, though. Was it useless to refuse to meet them for now?

Ann-Sophie was asking herself way to many questions, always wondering if she’s going to hurt Sarah by saying something wrong. She was a little scared of when the Athena daughter would find out about who she really was, because she didn’t know her at all. All she knew about the Demeter daughter was that she was cute (because Sarah told her many times already), that she loved soccer and being outdoor, and that her besties were Émilie and Mélodie, and that she sometimes had language fails. She didn’t know about her being a problem child, didn’t know she went from foster homes to foster homes. All those running away, those fights with almost everyone. Her disagreements with Miranda and Katie…

Since Ann-Sophie was worried about all that, it wasn’t hard for her to hide all the excitement she felt over Sarah to Émilie. It didn’t feel right to lie to her friend, but she still felt relieved when the latest asked, “Your date didn’t go as planned? You don’t look in love…”

Ann-Sophie nervously laughed. “Well, I don’t think they’ll be a second date. I… I don’t really want to talk about it, ok? Have you told Mélodie?”

              “You told me not to, so I was waiting, but why are you so secret?”

              “Cause I wasn’t sure it’ll work out and I was just right. He’s not the right one for me.”

She decided to go shower in hope the conversation would end just there. But as soon as she closed the bathroom door, her smile came back, and she thought of kissing Sarah, the butterflies in her stomach, and she felt loved. It was the first time she felt loved, and she thought she could become addicted. It felt great, and for the first time in forever, Ann-Sophie felt great somewhere.

She decided to focus on her finals instead of her love affair for now, because the next days were crucial for medals. Ann-Sophie trusted her chemistry with Alina and Eveliina being solid in net for a hockey victory, but she knew Jupiter camp would be as ready as Camp Half-Blood was. And for soccer, it would be a hard-fought battle. So she couldn’t screw things up by not being able to sleep because of Sarah. No way.

The hockey final went just as it should be. A thought game, but the orange camp came out with the victory. Ann-Sophie was busy celebrating when Miranda came to her.

              “Hey, are you ready for tomorrow?”

              “Of course, why?”

              “I don’t want to put pressure on you, but I’ve watched Jupiter camp, and there are some players that haven’t shown their all in the prelims. Pugh and Fleming are even better than what they shown. You should have come with us scouting.”

              “You are not teaching me anything on Fleming, you know. I’ve watched the U17 for long enough to know about her. I know her strengths, and I think I know some of her weaknesses too. But Pugh… is it the girl wearing number 11?”

Miranda nodded, and Ann-Sophie shrugged. She had played well the first game against them, but there was nothing more to say. She looked talented, but Ann-Sophie had never heard of her.

The soccer game didn’t go as well as the hockey game. Ann-Sophie soon realised that Jessie Fleming was very determined. They could be friends at soccer camp, but on this field, it was a declared war. She seemed to be aiming the gold medal like it was the only option.

Camp Half-Blood lost, and Ann-Sophie was disappointed in herself. She had played well, but she blamed every time she lost possession of the ball, every time she missed her tackle while playing a defensive role. Then, she also missed a corner kick and she hit the post ten minutes later. She was supposed to be one of the best players on the field, but she screwed things up every time she got the chance. And Jessie was there to capitalise on every Ann-Sophie Flower mistake. Or Mallory Pugh. Ann-Sophie turned furious red every time she’d hear, “The goal is scored by number 17, Jessie Fleming” and the crowd would turn crazy. It was like the whole town got to the game. Ann‑Sophie couldn’t even spot Sarah, or any of her friends in the sea of purple and yellow.

When Jupiter camp won, something weird happened. She saw the whole crowd chanting Jessie’s name, to Ann-Sophie’s jealousy, and then, she got burned on the wrist. She could see the Ontarian trying not to scream, looking at the new mark. Ann-Sophie asked Katie if she knew what was happening.

              “Jessie wasn’t officially in the legion; she was in probation. I think it’s like, a year, unless an act valued enough to let you be a legionnaire. Getting the team to win was what they decided valued.”

If Ann-Sophie thought the Jupiter Camp was already weird with their army, now it looked even less attracting. She still waved at Jessie to make her a sign to meet her. She only heard of her two hours later, near the exit door of the camp, where Ann-Sophie was trying to get a view of the camp to evacuate her frustration. She wasn’t a bad loser, but…

              “Flowers, you wanted to see me?”

              “Well, congratulations on winning, I guess, and being part of the legion I’ve been told. DO you know if there’s a soccer camp coming up for the U17?”

Jessie seemed a little uneased. “Well, I don’t know, I am travelling to a U20 soccer camp later today. Like, I should be heading to my casern to pack my stuff. I couldn’t go as long as I was in probation, that was the most last-minute thing I’ve seen. But you played quite well, I’ve been able to talk to Bev for a few minutes after the game and she mentioned liking your play.”

Ann-Sophie panicked. “Bev? Bev Priestman? No no no no. She saw all those mistakes I made, I bet?”

              “That wasn’t bad. Don’t worry about them, I made tons of them too when I was younger. And I was still named Captain last year. Everyone can improve, you know.”

Jessie rushed away, and Ann-Sophie was left with worries. Now she knew Bev had her in mind still, but she also had screwed up and was scared of never getting the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) F**k, will you stop?


End file.
